Thoughts of change without action become your torment. My husband says it like this, “Girl, you don’t have a knowing problem, you have a doing problem.”

You typically know better, you simply don’t do better. You know what to do, or atleast you know the first simple step in getting started, but the problem is you don’t take that first step, so you remain stuck in a life that is far less than you were created for.

This morning, you miraculously woke up to the gift of a brand new year of life. Welcome to 2025. You have never seen anything like this before. Overflowing and limitless potential meets you here today and invites you into living bigger and better this year.

With the new year, my guess is, you likely have thoughts of wanting to do better this year. There are a few changes you have been thinking about. Things you think you should really start doing, and things you should stop doing. We all have those thoughts. Those thoughts are an internal compass given to us by God to receive the promptings of his Holy Spirit. Now, we’re supposed to do something about those promptings!

The thoughts of change are there, but my sister, if you once again fail to take the necessary steps of action prompted by those thoughts, your mind becomes a place a torment.

Let me talk to you about the anxiousness you feel … Uh huh, yeah, we’re addressing that first thing this year because you absolutely cannot continue with the crippling affects of that anxiousness. You’re all torn up on the inside and tormented in your mind because you know better, but you’re not doing better. Your thoughts for change have been met with feet that won’t move in the direction necessary for change. That’s why you’re disappointed in life. That’s why you don’t like yourself. That’s why you’ve grown a little bitter and a little cynical. That’s why your energy is low and your butt’s been dragging.

You can change, girl, you can turn around right now and start your journey in a radically different direction with one single step. You can, but the question is will you?

Jesus tells us a story of a young man who knew better, but wasn’t doing better. He had thoughts of change, but without action, he remained in torment. He was overwhelmed with anxiousness because deep within his soul he always knew he was created for more than he had settled for. And whew, that is a nagging feeling, the feeling of knowing you’re created for more but you’ve settled for less. Maybe you’re familiar with that feeling.

As Jesus tells us this story, he brings us to a monumental moment that can easily be overlooked. A monumental moment in this man’s life that looks a whole lot like a moment you are about to have right now. As we read the story, the monumental moment of change is easy to miss, but listen closely.

Jesus says in Luke 15: 11-24:

A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, “I want my share of your estate now before you die.” So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
A few days later this younger son packed all his belonging and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into this fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
When he finally came to his sense, he said to himself, “At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger. I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.”But his father said to the servants, “Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.” So the party began.

There was a monumental moment of change. It happened when the son put his thoughts into action. He said to himself (which is a thought), “Gosh, I’m better than this. My father has so much more for me. I’ve got to get back home.” And then the moment came … verse 20, “So he returned home to his father.”

His thoughts of change were met with a change of action. He walked out of the mess of the pig pen he had been living in and he turned toward all his father had for him.

But I want you to imagine for a moment that he never took that first step to change. Imagine he sat in his mess of a life and just thought about how bad it was, how stuck he was, and how terribly he had screwed up. Imagine if he sat there and blamed everyone else. He blamed his father, he blamed his brother, he blamed his boss, he blamed the pigs, he blamed the famine. Imagine the overwhelming regret if he sat in his thoughts of change without the action of change. He regretted the years he had wasted, he regretted the shame he had created, he regretted the pain he had caused. Regret can chew you up and spit you out. Imagine what would have happened if he sat in the excuses, the blame and the regret … can you see it? He would have stayed stuck in his mess. Nothing would have changed. His thoughts of change would have been nothing but torment.

When you’re capable of better, but you’re not willing to do better, then you settle. You settle for less than God’s best because you trade steps of change for tormenting thoughts of change.

I’m just going to be bold with you right here as we step into the gifting of a new year of life … YOU ARE CAPABLE OF BETTER.

Those thoughts of change you have will torment you if all you do is think about it again this year. Honey, you’re not getting any younger and this isn’t getting any easier. And maybe, just maybe, the story you tell yourself of how hard this change is going to be isn’t even the truth. Maybe that’s just a story you’ve made up in your own mind and it’s become your excuse.

The son told himself that he would go home to his father and settle for no longer being called a son, but just be a hired servant. Oh he expected HARD. He expected punishment. But what his thoughts of change and action of obedience found was HIS FATHER HAD BEEN WAITING FOR HIS RETURN!

I don’t know where you’ve wandered off to or how long you’ve been gone, but maybe the return isn’t as bad as you’ve imagined. Maybe misery is staying stuck here. You think misery is the journey back to health, back to restoration, cleaning up messes, digging out of debt, and getting better. And because you think you will be miserable changing, you allow that imagined misery to talk you out of changing.

But the truth is, you actually feel so darn good when you know you’re on your way! The journey isn’t miserable, living in a pig pen is miserable. This isn’t nearly as hard as you imagined. The Father is waiting to meet you and welcome you back to the fullness of everything he created you for. But you have to decide to stop settling for so much less.

What are you going to do with those thoughts of change you’ve been thinking? Thoughts of getting healthy. Thoughts of intentionally seeking God more. Thoughts of restored relationships. Thoughts of freedom in your finances. Thoughts of the good things that make you come alive. Are you going to just keep thinking those thoughts without turning and taking action?

You know better, now do better. And while you do better, you will start feeling better than ever before.

This is your monumental moment of change. Your thoughts of change now meet day 1 of action steps.

God’s Spirit within you has been prompting you with visions of what your life could be. You could change. You could get better. You could live so much better. You could live in the fullness of God’s divine design for your life, partner with him for extraordinary purposes, and step into the impossible being made possible. But, just thinking about it isn’t enough. Now it’s time to take the first step on that journey.

A celebration awaits you, my sister. God will meet you on the way and guide you back to the BIG Life he always had in mind for you, but this step is yours to take.

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