Happy New Year Everybody!
I hope you all had a fantastic New Year’s Eve last night with your loved ones!
So here we are, we’ve made it to another year! 2018! I’ve got to admit, guys... every time the new year rolls around I have this false mentality that when I wake up the next morning things will “magically” feel new, refreshing, and just... well... I guess somehow better or different than the day before.
(Please tell me I’m not the only one who feels this way.)
I suppose I’ve developed this kind of thinking solely because that’s just how the coming new year is always portrayed to us through the news, media and society as a whole. “Clean slate!” “Fresh start!” “New beginnings!” “Old is gone, the new is in!” (Which I totally get and there IS some truth to it all.)
It’s just that when I awake the next morning to a brand new year, expecting everything to somehow be “different” and instead find that everything is exactly the same as I left it when my head hit the pillow the night before, it’s hard to not get kind of bummed out about it, right? (Or again, maybe this is just me?) Wouldn’t it be nice if after every time the new year came around our worries/sickness/current struggles were somehow erased and the problems we once had the year before no longer existed or carried on to the next year? Boom! Clean slate!
The reality that hit me this morning is: THIS is one of the many, (MANY) reasons why I need Jesus in my life. Jesus changes my perspective completely. I can have all these unrealistic, built-up expectations of what the next hour, day, month, year, and so on will be like only to be disappointed because none of it happened or things didn’t pan out as I was hoping it would. I had been placing my hope in all the wrong things and trying to take control of matters that I really have no business in trying to take control of. "Good morning Lord, thanks for the heart-check."
I’ve learned that when I fix my eyes on Jesus, my heart immediately shifts gears from disappointment to gratitude. It’s then that I realize the very same blessings that I had when I laid my head down the night before, I still have. Stop for a second. << Let that sink in. >> Wow!
Today IS a new day and God’s mercies are new every morning; great is HIS faithfulness!
Only the Lord Himself is Sovereign and He alone has the power to make ALL THINGS new. Bringing the dead to life. Healing the hurting and sick. Turning the dull and mundane into beautiful. Making the broken whole again. Turning difficult circumstances into opportunities for us to grow in character and grow in our trust in Him. He Redeems that which we feel is unredeemable or “too far gone.” He makes the impossible oh so very possible. His love surpasses all, His wisdom, His provisions, His perfect peace - He surpasses anything and everything that this world could even try to offer us.
In Him, we never come up short and His grace is always enough.
Jesus never disappoints; never fails and He gives us every reason to hold on to hope. Because hope is His middle name ... well not REALLY, but you get what I mean. I have all the hope I need for each day when I place all my concerns, worries and fears at His feet. And YOU have all the hope YOU need for each day too, when you place all things at the feet of Jesus. Surrendering every detail and tidbit.
So here’s the thing, friends. Yes, I may have woken up this morning (from a not-so-good night’s sleep) at an ungodly hour of 5:15am due to a very cranky toddler -AND- I may have rung in the new year with Sinusitis and an upper respiratory issue BUT ... God is still good. The Lord makes all things new. His timing is perfect and HE is in control! I have hope for each new day because I’ve got Jesus!
And Jesus is all my heart will ever need.
I’m choosing to walk through this new year with a thankful heart and a renewed perspective.
(A hope-filled one!) No new 2018 “goals” or “resolutions” from me other than this; plain and simple:
I need more of Jesus in my life and less of me.
I’m alive, I can breathe (with some help from antibiotics, at this point in time)
and I’ve got God on my side.
I'd rather spend my time counting my blessings and then praying about my current struggles rather than just dwelling on them.
That said, bring it on 2018, whether you feel old or new to me!
Hit me with your best shot! 💪🏼
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"We have this hope as an anchor for our souls; firm and secure."
(Hebrews 6:19)
"And His Name will be the hope of all the world."
(Matthew 12:21)
"For nothing will be impossible with God."
(Luke 1:37)
"He has made everything beautiful in it's time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."
(Ecclesiastes 3:11)
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