by Tracy Hacker

Two years ago, our pastor asked our congregation to petition God for a word for our families for the year. I did as he requested, and my word came. I was hoping for a word like “boldness” or “wisdom” or “change,” maybe even “joy,” instead, my word was “resolve.” Webster’s Dictionary defines resolve “to make a definite and serious decision to do something.” My favorite definition is one I heard a pastor give several years ago “stick-to-it-ness.” This has proven to be a much better definition!!

Over the past two years, I kept thinking this word might change or maybe God would speak another word, but the word He kept giving was “resolve.” To be honest, I had a hard time understanding what I could do with this word. Would God give me a platform or a circumstance for this word to come alive? Instead of a platform, He has given me a daily stage for this word to show up in my life and has given me plenty of opportunity to learn to live it out! I have found myself at times asking God for guidance and praying for the meaning of this word “resolve” to sometimes just get me through the day. You may be like me in that the everyday tasks seem to be overwhelming some days. The mundane tasks that seem so unimportant. The laundry that never seems to stop. The dishes that seem to “always” be in the sink. (Did I mention that 8 people live in my house?!) Fingerprints  seem to be on everything, smudges on my front door, and toys on the floor. God has used these things each day to show me exactly how my “resolve” would be used. Those tasks that seem to be insignificant in the big scheme of things are sometimes where our “resolve” is tested the most.

“Resolve” is what keeps a heart going in the midst of chaos, in the middle of a storm. When the world would say “give up,” “let someone else do it,” resolve says, “God called you to this, He will keep you.” “Resolve” or “stick to it-ness” says, “I am tired, I am overwhelmed, but God has a plan.” Satan would like nothing more than to see us stop living our purpose because of how we feel, because of our circumstances. The “resolve” that God has placed within each of us gives us the strength to keep moving, to press on, to go forward even though we don’t “feel” like it, even when there is no grand stage. You may be reading this blog post right now from the sofa next to a huge pile of clothes that need folding, or maybe sitting at your kitchen table looking at a sink full of dirty dishes just over the top of your computer and the defeat has already set in for the day. GET UP!! God is too good and His purpose for you is too important for you to let the enemy’s schemes hold you back today.

God has been so faithful to show me over the past two years that part of His purpose for my life in this season is to care for the people in my home and that my “resolve” is to do it DAILY with all I have. There is no grand stage, no huge crowd to share with, just a few little faces that fill my table. Small hands and hearts that fill our house with laughter and love and are evidence to me that He sees each soul as priceless, redeemable and worth dying for. Somewhere in His grand plan is a place for me.  I GET TO serve Him. There is a place for the talents He has given me and a place for my soul to find rest and He delights in me. Resolve counts when is gets hard, when it’s not fun, when we would rather be somewhere else that does not require work, or at a movie or just sitting somewhere quiet. Resolve says, “When I don’t feel like living out my purpose today, I will move forward.” Resolve means that at the end of a long day, I can lay my head down at night and ask God for the strength to do it all again tomorrow, not the option to give up. Resolve means no retreat, no opting out. To quote one of my favorites, Beth Moore, “Let’s do the thing!!”

God, give us vision for our future, and place within us the RESOLVE to move when You call!!

“Jehovah is my strength and song; And he is become my salvation” Isaiah 12:2