For many, 2020 is shaping up to be a great year. It is the year when they will speak to mountains and watch them move. For many more, this new year already seems to be a repeat of last year…not so good. Entering a new decade, millions of people, rather I, thought that I would leave old baggage behind. That I would shed hurt, anger and pain like old clothes. What I’d failed to realize was that entering a new decade was the same old me. Bummer, right?
I could easily become discouraged because February caught me quitting the gym, eating the same unhealthy foods, snapping at my husband and yelling at the kids like I did last year. However, I am not discouraged! The reason is that this year, my yelling has been less because when I feel the stress coming on, I pray. When I am tempted to be persnickety with my man, I remember love always covers an offense. And when I begin to feel like I am a disappointment for quitting the gym, I am reminded that God will not quit on me.
So far, this year I’ve found myself being more reflective and meditative on God’s Word. And when I begin to feel like my last year’s self, I take a deep breath and repeat the following scriptures:
1. 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face...”
2. 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now abide faith, hope and love and the greatest of these is love.”
3. 1 Corinthians 10:26, “For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”
4. Romans 8 38-39, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
5. Proverbs 17:9, “Whoever would foster love covers over an offense...”
6. Proverbs 17:22, “A cheerful heart is good medicine...”
Whether you are having an awesome new year or not, know that God’s mercy is new every morning. It is not predicated about how we feel but on who He is.