The start of a new year brings about a fresh wave of perspectives, hopes, and dreams. As sorry as I always am to see the beloved holiday season come to an end, there is something so exciting to me about the prospect of a clean slate and a year of unwritten days. There is something so powerful about a new start, and I believe spiritual as well. God is a Father of new beginnings–he created days, months and the beginning and end of years to give us the opportunity to finish and start again. He Himself is given the name Alpha and Omega–the beginning and the end. Let’s use the new beginning He’s given us in this new year to dream, think bigger, and expand our vision in a way we never have before.

Your vision is your future. It is so very important to have goals in front of you, and dreams in your heart. It is important to take time at moments like the dawn of a new year, to ask yourself where you want to be a year from now? Or how about even 2, 5 or 10 years from now. Ask yourself the question, where is it that you want your life to go? Because if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.

Habakkuk 2:2-3 is one of my absolute favorite scriptures on this subject. It reads: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” 

Statistics have shown that a person who writes down his goals is 50 times more likely to achieve them than the person that does not. RichHabitsInstitute.com, in an article about 20 things the rich do every day, states that 67% of wealthy people write down their goals, versus only 17% of poor.

Prov 29:18  says that “without vision, people perish.” Far too many Christians are perishing from the inside out because they have let go of the God-given dreams and desires of their hearts. I want to encourage you today to instead grab them by the reigns and put them to pen and paper. Use the fresh start of the new year to revive the Psalm 37:4 dreams that God cares deeply about for you.

One of my favorite practices for over a decade now has been that of recording my goals and dreams. Not only is it a wonderful reminder of whence God has brought me, and an archive of His faithfulness, it is also something that focuses me all year long on my priorities and desired direction. Like a map that charts a path, or a steering wheel that steers the course, a written vision can do just that for the days and weeks of your life. I encourage you today to begin to keep a vision notebook of the goals and dreams God is stirring in your heart today.

Have you ever heard the question “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”, or “What would you do if money were no object?” I encourage you today to not take these questions lightly, but to sincerely search your heart and write down the answers you find there. I believe in the answer to these questions you may collide with parts of your destiny!

What is it you desire this year? To be a good family member or friend, to get a good grade on a test, to learn a musical instrument, to help in an area at church–what is important to you? What do you want out of your walk with God this year, what do you want to learn, where do you want to grow? Do you want favor this year, and increase in areas where there has been lack? Do you want to be more sensitive to the needs of people around you, or want to help others in a way you never have before? Do you want to be more patient and kind? Write it down! Nothing is too big, nothing is too small to record. Nothing is too out-of-the-box!

This very week, we get a new clock. Starting at 1. January 1st. 365 days to move closer to your destiny, 365 days to embrace your purpose. Let the gift of the written word–your written words–start to change your life today! This week!

Write down the vision in your spirit. Don’t minimize your dreams and don’t lose heart.Take advantage of this pause that is the end of 2015 to reflect on the past and dream for the future. And write down what God is speaking to you.

If there is ever a people to be dreaming big dreams for this world, it’s God’s people. If there was ever a time for God’s people to be dreaming dreams for our world, it is now!

Also, check out the vision journal we have in the shop today! 20 pages is just the right size to record some of these things that God is stirring in your heart today. And as with all Planted Products, a bulk of the proceeds will go towards a great cause. Check it out here!

Thank You, Lord, for all you have done for us in 2015. We are so thankful to see your hand on our lives. Thank You also Lord, for where you are taking us in 2016. We believe it will be the best year yet. Thank you for your favor, blessing and increase in every area of our lives this year!