“Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3: 13-14

Everyone has waited with bated breath for 2021 to arrive. But now that it is here, what is going to change?

While I have no control over Covid-19, I do have control over the decisions I make for this new year. A part of my journey while walking the Camino and writing The Promised Land was learning to let go of control. But that requires of me to take stock of the things that are worth me controlling and letting go of the rest.

What does that look like? I cannot control other people, how they vote, how they respond to Covid-19, how they respond to the call of Christ. I cannot control how many people will buy my books. But I can control how I respond to unkind comments on social media or disappointing and even frightening news. And I can control how much I put my trust in God.

It seems 2020 had the whole world groaning, as it says in Romans 8, longing for relief. And we humans saw much of our lives spinning totally out of our control. My 2020 prayer came from Psalm 143: 8 “Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go for to You I lift up my soul.”

I held onto that word trust in 2020, and boy, did I find it hard to put into practice. I certainly had plenty of opportunities to lean into trusting God and others and to practice letting go of control. I’d give myself about a B- in how well I accomplished this. And that is a difficult admission from a gal who always made straight As!

But as I turned the page of my life into 2021, I heard two other words whispering into my spirit, urging me forward even as I continue to relinquish control and trust God: Press on. And immediately as those words sank into my spirit, I thought of a phrase from Philippians that I’d memorized years ago: “…forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on…”

Press on. To what? “…toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

I like how Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message: “I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back…”

We press on with our eyes set on Jesus. Looking forward at Him.

During the Virtual Camino I participated in this fall, the InterVarsity site provided what they called ‘a blessing’  before each of the five Camino podcasts. Each blessing was a 3-5 minute testimony from someone who had walked the Camino. The blessing that went along with Walk #5 stirred my soul.

Daniel had been on staff with InterVarsity in California for ten years when he took a sabbatical to walk the Camino. After 10 years of ministry at community colleges with little ‘success’ and lots of grief, he felt angry at God. He accused God of being an unfair boss who makes too many demands on his employees and asks them to do impossible things. He told God he wasn’t interested in that type of obedience anymore because it didn’t seem fair.

As he pounded out his grief and anger on the Camino, at one point he almost literally heard God say, “Daniel, I’m not your boss, so don’t treat Me like that. I am Your God, Your lover, Your friend, and what I ask of you is to love Me and love others. And love isn’t easy or successful or fair. Love is hard…”

And hearing that changed everything for him.

I cried with these words, Lord, because I could relate to Daniel. Sometimes our ministries in France and in writing and beyond have felt too hard. What a balm to be reminded of what obedience to Your command to love looks like. It looks messy and out of my control. Sometimes exhausting, disappointing, scary, uncertain. But You are not counting results the way we humans do. You are counting faithfulness.

So my prayer for each of us as we embrace 2021 is that we will indeed fix our eyes on Jesus and press on.

ELIZABETH MUSSER writes ‘entertainment with a soul’ from her writing chalet—tool shed—outside Lyon, France. Find more about Elizabeth’s novels at www.elizabethmusser.com and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and her blog.