A New Year an Old You?

 

Indeed, it is the second day of 2016, and it seems as if everyone is talking about a new year, new you, new goals and even new happiness.  But you, you are lugging old crosses right across the old and into the “new” calendar.   There is illness still present that is old, not so new.   There are prodigal children and missing loved ones still pricking the old pain and seeming to prevent the new picture.   If only our hearts had zippers, so they didn’t have to be ripped out maybe the pain would be less, just maybe.

You cannot seem to shed the trials and a new year just feels like the continuation of past troubles.  Nothing new, nothing better, nothing changed, just the same struggles sabotaging your progress.

You look at others who seem to have it all, not a care in the world, and you feel discouraged.   Comparison is a free invitation for the thief to come in and send you further into distress.   Pain is not prejudiced but we forget that, feeling like only a few of the unlucky get chosen.

Friend, if you try and make one change in 2016, let it be your thinking.  Our thoughts are responsible for the stability of our souls.

We are only as healthy as how we think about our most challenging circumstance.

You may be lugging chronic challenges into a new year, but with significant obstacles come eternal opportunities to nurture a refined you.   It is not a date on a calendar that steers us in a fresh direction.  It is the desire of our hearts for a Savior that is the only one who can make all things new.  (Revelation 21:5)   Do not look at dates and set deadlines for out with the old and in with the new.   Our plans are perishable, but the will of the Lord stands forever.

There is nothing wrong with setting goals, but if it is our responsibility alone to obtain these objectives, we are creating a set up for disappointment.  

We must hold our ideas with free hands, not firm hearts.

We are only as strong as our understanding of our dependence on a Savior outside of ourselves, our doctors, our pastors, counselors, self-help books and the list goes on.   If we are placing our hope in where instead of Who we will remain in a vortex of despair.

You will prosper from your pain.   If not now, someday soon.   If we do not believe that, (Romans 8:28), life becomes void of hope.   Hope is a beautiful burden.  Why not focus on the beautiful?   Isaiah 40:31 ~ but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

You are loved friend.

Heart Reformations

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My success rate with New Year resolutions is 0%; therefore, I am not a fan!   I have been “planning” consistent commitment to exercise for more than half my life.   That goal was just a picture absent of prayer that bred exhausted expectations void of any rewarding realizations.   Healthy resolutions will not prosper without heart reformations.   I do not need a new year to be a new me, and neither do you.   We can be made new any day, any month and any year when it is not about us who corrects our habits, but He who changes our heart.   Progress only thrives in the shadows of prayer, and growth is granted under the wings of grace.   Without turning over control from self to Savior resolutions become rejections and dates breed despair.   Results come from my Provider, not my power and by His appointments not my agenda.   1 John 4:4…for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.