Here was the statement of the author of Experiencing God Day by Day, Henry Blackaby: God always speaks to you in the context of what he has done in the lives of those who have gone before you.
The God who led Moses, who worked through Elijah, who directed Paul, who guided each man and woman of God through the centuries, is the same God who approaches you to become involved in his work. Do you sense the significance of that? You are a vital part of something much bigger than yourself!
Blackaby reminds us that we become impatient if God intends to complete what he began in us through another person or even another generation. Moses came to understand that his involvement in God’s work was in the context of hundreds of years of divine activity.
When Moses came face to face with the same God who had guided his forefathers, he was deeply humbled. God had made promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob hundreds of years earlier and he was now going to involve Moses in his ongoing activity to fulfill the covenant He had made with Moses’ forefathers.
Do you sense that your life is a part of God’s eternal purposes?
The scripture Blackaby used is Exodus 3:6 which says “Then he continued, ‘ I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.”
What struck me was what I have discovered as I have taught the Family History Bootcamp and helped others build their digital home for all their legacy materials – and found and filled it with so many treasures! My own discovery that comes to mind is my great-great-grandfather who was just a stick figure in the only photo my mom had and put in her album she created toward the end of her life. And she knew little beyond his name to pass on to me.
I have shared in this blog the discoveries I made about him and which I have placed in my safe 100+ years storage. His mid-1800’s life and times that I later uncovered included a long life ending in serving the Lord as he and 3 others founded a church. He was a farmer but also became an itinerant preacher – a Christian evangelist preaching a redemption message while traveling around to different groups in his north Texas area.
Most important was realizing the faith impact he “most likely” had on my grandmother (his granddaughter) as they lived close by throughout her formative up to adult years. And she was a huge positive influence on my faith as a young girl and up through my young adult years. I can look back and see God at work (on my behalf) through my ancestors. And yes, there are a few more I can trace this way as well!
One of the “productivity” people I follow offered a point that hit me – it was the title of her workshop she is presently offering (since it is the first of the year) — “How to Set Goals You’ll Actually Follow Through On”. In her workshop she explored why it’s so hard to follow through on goals — and that put me to thinking about Blackaby’s words. He asked “Do you sense that your life is a part of God’s Eternal purposes?”
So there! First, I had not given my “New Year 2026” viewing of the way forward a “God perspective”. Of course! That should be my priority! Because if He is not my focus, I really am not committed “to the core” to whatever goal or project or direction I set. My “core” is the will of the Lord. So any commitments I make need to be with that perspective….or they fail.
Yes – my main entrepreneurial guru, Jeff Walker, hit this end-of-year introspection with his usual spot-on system. It was a perfect set-up for my facing the New Year. I loved his sharing of his every December 31 ritual. It is worth adding here as it took me a ton deeper into what the Lord is doing in my life.
Here’s Jeff’s ritual — I commend it to you (because I just did it and it was excellent):
He said he sits down with a notebook (yes, actual paper) and he asks himself two questions:
Question 1: What worked well this year?
What actually produced results, moved the needle – and cover all major areas of life: business, money, health & wellness, family life, marriage, friendships, etc. Write down everything that worked — even the small stuff. Especially the small stuff. (Hint: he has last year’s calendar open to jog his memory – good idea)
Question 2: What do I want to do differently?
Yes, this one’s harder. Nobody likes admitting what flopped. But watch the wording — not what I sucked at…or what was a miserable failure. Simply, what do I want to do differently? No judgment. No self-accusation. Here’s the “jewel” — the stuff that didn’t work is often way more valuable than the stuff that did. That’s where learning happens. The faster you learn, the faster everything else gets easier.
Amazingly, Jeff’s ritual took me right back to the Lord. Question 1 filled me with gratitude for all the Lord had done for me throughout 2025. That is a great place to be — full of thankfulness for my God.
And Question 2 was so in keeping with the Lord’s graciousness toward me. He reminds me of Romans 8:1 — “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (you can also check John 3:18 which says in part “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned….” and there are other similar verses)
In fact, I reflect back to the Lord’s restoration of Peter, I remember how Blackaby put it. “Jesus has a wonderful way of restoring us when we fail Him! He does not humiliate us. He does not criticize us. He does not ask us to make a resolution to try harder. Rather, He takes us aside and asks us to reaffirm our love for Him.”
In fact, Blackaby was hitting the “resolutions” issue. He pointed out that as we start a new year, we may be “painfully aware” that we have failed our Lord in many ways. But, like Peter’s case, He will ask you to examine your love for Him. If you truly love Him, you will obey Him (John 14:15). Blackaby reminds us that Jesus does not need our resolutions, our recommitments or our promises to try harder this year. Jesus asks for our love — and if we truly love Him, Blackaby says our service for Him in the new year will be of the quality that He desires. And that is such a good point for me to remember since I tend to beat myself up over what I see as failures.
Following Jeff’s ritual, and keeping in mind Blackaby’s pointing me to the Lord’s perspective, gave me an excellent experience. I had been struggling to figure out how to best move forward with my Family History Bootcamp and Family History work in 2026 so that I can bring more people into saving their legacy materials.
So I camped on that a bit in my “what would I do differently” notes. It is clear to me that Deuteronomy 6 is my guiding-light scripture on this goal of bringing as many people as I can to the “action” point of saving their ancestor materials, of saving their own personal memories of parents, grandparents, and family members for future generations. How can I get more people to see, participate in, and actually save those precious memories and memorabilia?
And I have resolved it – I will do a FREE Family History Bootcamp with the basic structure information in an easily consumed format !! Whoa! I just said it ‘out loud’. And I am moving forward with how to do that. Scary – I need to make it financially work as well.
Of course, there is more to be done in the work of “filling and safeguarding” that Bootcamp structure. But my goal is to just open the eyes and minds of people to the urgency of acting now – so….FREE Bootcamp here we come!
Stay tuned and think about your parents, grandparents, ancestors – and your own life story — what is something in 2026 you would like to do differently in that arena?
