I was so blessed this past Christmas to read the following post written by an individual who went through an extremely rough patch in 2013:

"For awhile I was in a place where I couldn't even recognize my own reflection. Then, I made one of the best decisions of my life, and I did it without any doubt whatsoever. That decision was to give my life to Christ."

This young man answered God's call to surrender his life to Jesus. However, making this life-altering decision requires another step ... one that is contained in today's scripture. Once we make the decision to follow Christ, we must then commit to LEAVING THE PAST BEHIND and moving forward in God's plans for our lives.

Apostle Paul is encouraging ALL of us in this scripture to strain forward and to press toward the future. My challenge to you today is to make a choice on this first day of the new year to not live in the past ... to believe that in Christ tomorrow is always better than yesterday.

Dear Lord, I thank You for all of my blessings. Help me to focus on the positive aspects of my life and to avoid dredging up the things in the past that have weighed me down.

I thank You, my Jesus, for dying for me. I believe that You are Lord and that God raised You from the grave so that I can have eternal life.

Reflection: What obstacles did you encounter in 2013 that need to be left behind in order to pursue all that God has planned for you in 2014?