{Photo credit for diptych: Mary Jo Pierce on the left. Bonnie Saul Wilks on the right.}

I am listening to the early rain, drinking morning coffee, meditating on the open road before me as the new year begins…

It is ridiculously obvious to I say that I sense levels of change on this new day January 1, 2017. But it should be noted; because in this change, there is stability. The scripture the Lord gave me for this fresh season came white-hot with hope, and it is Isaiah 33:6 NAS: “And He will be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; The fear of the LORD is his treasure.”

Stability is my word of promise. Tomorrows that number 365 stretch before me, fresh and clean, yet unknown. Stability is such a great promise for each of those days from a good Father, yet it is a common attribute that is easy to diminish value. It means standing on a good foundation–the kind that allows me to launch forward into supernatural endurance. It means that the steps beneath me enlarge as I journey making my pathway stable. It means that chaos is turned to normalcy. This anchor of stability serves as solid hope through shifting transitions that I cannot control.

The Hebrew word for stability here is emunah. It derives from the word “firmness.” In modern Hebrew, it is used daily as the word for “faith.” And what a beautiful idea–to equate stability and faith. Faith makes you stable or firm, and stability increases faith or firmness.

The verse goes on to say that the outworking of stability in our times is the presence of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. As we daily abide in Jesus, seeking Him through worship and daily feasting on the Word, stability anchors us by giving us salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. These gifts help us navigate uncertainty.

I would say 2016 was a year of bruising. The world had so many shifts in what was and is normal that by the first of November and the end of the presidential election, we were bruised and reeling. Stability seemed like a far away dream. And as we venture into a new year, stability still seems like a foreign word still.

Amid the upheaval of change, there are things I cannot change. The petals of my youth are quickly falling, yet I am deeply rooted beside ageless rivers of living water. There is change, and there is constancy. At the turning of a new season, I understand that the flower will fade but the leaf will not waste away. It is medicine for the healing of the nations. I will always cling to these truths.

I am stepping into the unchartered pathway of the new year with faith and expectancy. I am pressing deeper and harder into the unknown–not in strife or labor–but with the same unbending violence that brought a dark kingdom down and that triumphed in victory at Calvary. I am at war, and yet the war has been won. I am sober yet full of joy for what lies ahead.

I am willing for change, and yet rejoicing in what remains the same. I am anchored with a stability that defies human comprehension. I am stepping into the unrevealed without a map, rather a code of conduct that has been blood-washed and saturated with grace. My steps are unfamiliar, and yet I know God is leading, refining my life as I go like silver is purified in the heat of battle.

As I cross into 2017, I have this promise that when my life is jolted by unstable people or circumstances — salvation, wisdom, and knowledge to fit the bill are present. My heart is full to overflowing as I try to wrap my head around this beautiful promise. These gifts that lend into stability are available to me when I pray and ask God for them. He answers. He brings the calm of stability by instructing me how to use His ever-present salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. Truly we live and operate in an unseen kingdom and enjoy things like stability when the world is going topsy-turvy.