New Beginnings

I love the week between Christmas and New Year's. I mean, absolutely, positively, LOVE it. It's a week I usually spend cleaning (yeah, I love cleaning, it's weird, you can say it), getting a last few things done, and of course spending time with my family and friends. It's a time of dreaming, planning new goals for the year ahead, and just taking time to realize how far I've come over the past twelve months.

Basically, I love the new start. All the times I failed over the past year are about to be shoved behind me as a brand new year breaks forth. A new year to go places, meet new people, to set new goals and reach them, a chance to try again on the goals I missed the year before.

A new year to grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ. To become more like Him. To know Him better, to learn to trust Him more as He works in my life to bring me to where He wants me to be.

You may have heard about a book in the Bible called Lamentations. It's not preached from a lot, and I haven't heard many devotionals about it. Basically, the prophet Jeremiah wrote it during one of the toughest times in Israel's history. Babylon was decimating the kingdom, Jerusalem was top on the hit list, and the people were in misery.

But even then, they were able to make a comeback. Jeremiah writes: "Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I hope in Him!'" (Lamentations 3:22-24 NKJV). 

 We don't have to wait for a brand new year to make a fresh start. God's mercy and grace towards us are new every morning. No matter what you may be going through, what choices you've made, God can bring you back from it. God can help you start anew, any day, any time. 



 Father, thank You for always giving us another chance. Help us in 2015 to grow closer to You and to serve You better. Mold us after Your image. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Feel free to share your opinions, however, please be aware that I moderate all comments, and will not approve any with vulgar, suggestive, or rude language (including those which make use of symbols [*%$] to take the place of letters to try to slide by). I also will not approve advertisement comments. Please use your voice to add to the conversation. You are free to agree or disagree, but please no trolling, flaming, or spamming. Thanks!

Popular posts from this blog

Freefalling

Image
Time for a Sunny Saga! Sunny: cheeky little bird If you read this post , you probably remember I have two pet birds. Today I'm going to tell you a little more about Sunny. Sunny is quite spunky. We found him one day inside the fence of the pool, crawling along on the stones and trying to eat grass seeds (by the way, stones are worthless for keeping weeds down). After a futile search for his owner, my parents let us keep him. He eventually became my bird and my responsibility (eventually my other bird came into the picture, but that wasn't until later). That was about sixteen years ago. He's still hopping along, being a regular nuisance. And since cockatiels can live to be thirty, he promises to be a pain-in-the-tail-feathers for quite a bit more (think carefully before you get a bird from the parrot family). The average age is fifteen years, so technically he's already pushing it. But for being an old dude, he's still rather sprightly. I take both birds ...
Read more

3 Things God Can't Do

I cringed writing this title. It just makes my skin crawl, the idea that God can't do something. Isn't that saying He's not all-powerful? But really, it's not a lessening of God's might that He can't/doesn't do these things, but rather a reassurance of the goodness and holiness of His character, and of just how powerful He is. 1. He can't lie "Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began" ~ Titus 1:1-2 NKJV Depending on the translation you use, this verse either says "cannot," doesn't," "can't," or some other variable of the same thing. The idea across them all is the same: lying is not something God does, it's not even in His nature.  Unlike us, who sometimes struggle to tell the truth, who find lying...
Read more

Meditation Monday: True riches

“ Better is a little with the fear of the Lord , Than great treasure with trouble.” ~ Proverbs 15:16 Celebrities have it all. Those big houses, fancy cars, amazing vacations, and hordes of admirers. Ever-expanding bank accounts, name-brand bags and designer shoes, perfume lines and make-up boutiques in their own homes. Not to mention closets with enough clothes to fill a small department store. And we can’t forget the messy public break-ups, the cameras flashing into every moment of their private lives, the unflattering photos paraded around by people consumed with jealousy… And the pain of an empty heart. Because when you watch these actresses, these socialites, these singers, parading themselves around as sex objects and letting their bodies be ravaged by men’s eyes, you have to wonder… How empty do they feel, not knowing there is a Savior Who loves them? Whose heart aches when He sees what they’re doing to themselves? Who longs for them to come to their...
Read more