Hello 2022!
It’s the first Monday of a new year. Maybe, like many, you’re lacking the typical January enthusiasm – consider this your New Year’s pep talk!
This January feels quite different from Januarys past. Two years ago we had no idea on New Year’s Day what was about to happen to our world…I mean, some people did, but we didn’t. 2020 was a rough year for everybody. And then came 2021. There was hope that 2021 would be the year that the world went back to normal. The “vaccine” was going to be available soon and we were told that once we had the “vaccine” we could go back to living our maskless, socially un-distanced lives. And then 2022 arrived and we’re being mandated to receive the mRNA injection if we want to keep our jobs or go certain places and do certain things. We have a mask mandate in Washington state and children in elementary school eating outside in 30-degree weather.
This is not what we were expecting, not what we were hoping for and not what we prayed for.
We’re tired. Weary. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Sorry, the pep talk is coming…I promise. Ready?
As I was flying home from Idaho on New Year’s Day, after an emotional 2 days for our family, I was scrolling through my Bible app and landed on Isaiah 43:19.
For I am about to do something NEW. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
Isaiah 43:19
I have always loved this scripture, but this New Year it gave me great hope, not just for my family but for our nation. I believe God is doing something NEW in so many ways…too many to count. I see God at work all around me. I see God raising up warriors who are speaking up in ways they never have before. Moms and dads at school board meetings. Teachers who are exposing the indoctrination going on in government schools. Citizens losing their jobs because they refuse to be forced to take an injection they do not want. I could go on and on. These may seem like small things, but I assure you, they are not. These are warriors.
I know most days it seems like there aren’t enough of these warriors among us. Are there enough to make a difference? I wonder that too. But I am believing that God is up to something BIG. I don’t necessarily know if we will see things get better in our lifetime – maybe especially not here in Washington – but I think we are going to have the opportunity to be people who are willing to rise up, stand up and fight the good fight that God is calling us to do. And we have the opportunity to align with others who are fighting and in that, we will find meaningful community in a society that doesn’t value that sort of thing anymore.
I believe that 2022 is a year when we are going to see “unlikely” people stepping into roles that they never imagined they would. Maybe they will run for state representative or school board or mayor…and yet, they’ve never been political in their lives…but they believe in America and will fight to preserve our freedom. I believe new relationships and connections will be formed between likeminded people and groups.
Maybe you have been reluctant to get out your planner and start to map out what you want to accomplish in 2022 but I want to encourage you to do it soon. I’m not saying New Year’s Resolutions – I’ve never been into that sort of things. But start making plans – what do you want to do, where do you want to go, who do you want to meet. We are all quite traumatized by the events we have experienced these last two years. I believe God wants us to live with HOPE and JOY and that means we need to be intentional. Listen to HIS voice and what He is leading you to do in this time.
2022 is not a year to sit on the sidelines or be content being a keyboard warrior. It’s a time for each of us to take action.
*By Julie Barrett, Founder, Conservative Ladies of Washington
