Maybe Next Year...

As the new year begins, many of us find ourselves saying, "maybe this will be the year..."

Sure, last year was a challenge for us all, but surely THIS will be the year we've been waiting for. Surely this will bring the freedom, change, hope, and contentment that we longed for 2020 to bring. 

But then, reread that last sentence... we longed for 2020 to bring what we're now longing for 2021 to bring. Many of us entered last new year with the same kind of excitement and hope that we now are entering 2021 with because we witnessed it get quickly crushed in 2020, and we were then left with many unmet desires that we're hoping will be met in 2021. 

But what if they're not? I don't mean to sound depressing, and I truthfully am hoping for exciting change in this new year as well!... but what if we don't get that? What if our desires that we've been expecting 2021 to meet go unmet for another year? Or two? Or three? Or twenty?

What then?

You may be entering this year with a loss. A lot of us are, sadly. 2020 was a year filled with loss and change. Now, many of us enter with some form of grief from our former life, as well as many questions about what to do now. Did 2020 change all of your plans for your future, too? Postpone them? Destroy them? Are you facing life now without a person or a thing that you clung to dearly, and don't know how to do life without?

I know many of you are hoping for answers, positive life circumstance changes, and for hope to finally be proved worth it, and I hope the same for each of you!! But what if this year is harder than the last? What if it's just the same? What if things don't change for the better? What if they don't change at all? 

The problem we face is that we tend to try to control the things beyond our control. We say things like, "maybe this will be the year when I finally get that job", or, "maybe this will be the year I finally get that relationship", or, "maybe this will be the year I finally have a child", or anything else that you can fill in the blank. We focus so much on those hopes that we end up unknowingly putting our hope IN those things rather than in the One Who controls them. If our hope is in anything but Jesus, it will fail. It will disappoint us. We can't even control these things, let alone find satisfaction from them. I know it feels like such a lie when it seems like once these things you're hoping in happen, THEN you will be happy... but you won't be. Not until you search for that happiness right where you are. 

I don't know if this will be the year when your dreams come true, or if this will be another year of disappointment. But what I do know is that a great place to start off this new year, is by putting your hope in Jesus. Focus on His goodness, and in His perfect plan and timing, and focus on changing only the things you can control instead of hoping for the things you can't control to change. Maybe this will be the year when we learn to have joy even when we don't feel happy. Maybe this will be the year when we finally start reading our Bibles again, and the words start to make sense. Maybe this will be the year when we devote our lives to the Lord, and step into all that He has planned for us. Maybe this will be the year when we find freedom from what others think, because this year we're devoting ourselves to only listening to what God thinks. 

I don't know what 2021 will bring for us all... but come what may, I pray that this is the year we find a peace that makes no sense in the middle of all of this chaos. A steadiness of our lives in the middle of the world's earthquake. 

Maybe this will be the year of freedom. 

I'm praying that over everyone reading this today. Welcome to 2021, my friends. Come what may, God is still on the throne.

Light In the Darkness

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; You have increased its joy; they rejoice before You as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

"For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, You have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.

"For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

"The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this." -Isaiah 9:2-7

After the year we've all had, these words take on a whole new meaning this Christmas, don't they? 

Just imagine what that must've felt like for those who understood that Jesus was the fulfillment of this prophecy, after more than 400 years of waiting for this promised Hope.

All they knew was slavery, and this was their promise that they were to be free. 

For many of those He healed, all they knew was sickness and pain. This was their promise that they were to be free.

It's an assurance that we are not alone, and that this life is not all there is. Because of Jesus, when we face difficult trials and misery, we can rejoice in the promise that all of that darkness is going to be over one day, because the Light has come. 

In the middle of all of our hopelessness and darkness this year, a Light has come. In the shadows of doubt and pain, we have a Light brightening it all, and promising to one day destroy the darkness forevermore.

On this Christmas, I pray we all remember this hope, and that it takes on a whole new meaning this year that we remember for the rest of our lives. There is hope. There is victory. Death has lost, and we are free through Him. What a wonderful thing to celebrate!  

Merry Christmas, everyone. I pray you all have an incredible holiday, and a wonderful and redemptive end to your year. 

The Best Is Yet to Come

One of the biggest lies that the devil throws at us is that we’re stuck. That our lives are over, and that nothing good will ever come to us again, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Often times, this lie tends to go hand in hand with a deep guilt over something that we’ve done, and we find ourselves believing that nothing good can ever come our way again, or ever stick around, because of the mistakes we’ve made in the past.

Many of us have found ourselves believing those lies at some point or another, and you may be wrestling those lies right now. If you are, I want you this post to be as if I’m speaking directly to you. No matter what you’ve done, or what you feel, your story is not over yet. And you know what’s more?

The best is yet to come.

Your life is not over; it’s only just beginning!!!! I don’t know the number of your days, but I don’t need to to know that this truth applies to you. Jesus came into this world to save us from our guilt, and all of our sins. Through Him, you are free. He loves you so much that He wants you to have good and perfect gifts. He wants to not only get you out of hard circumstances, but He wants to completely remove the grip that those past or present struggles have on you. You know how I know? Isaiah 43:18-19. John 3:16-17. James 1:17. There are so many verses that back this truth up!

When we give our hearts to Jesus, and choose to live for Him from there on out (repenting of our sins whenever we feel the conviction, relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to help us live a life of righteousness, spending time with Jesus in prayer and in praise and the Word, and so forth), He WANTS us to have hope and a future. He WANTS us to be free from guilt, shame, and all grips of darkness. We can rest in the reality that who Jesus is is enough, and is the answer to everything we face, and that our best is then yet to come. We will experience greater joy, peace, and freedom than we ever have in our lives. Even if our days from there are short, or we struggle with hard battles for more days than we wish we did, this truth still remains because we then have the hope of Heaven!!

It all boils down to this: do you believe that Jesus is who He says He is? That He loves you more than anyone or anything else out there? That He loves you even when you don’t love yourself? That He wants your best even when you’re at your worst? That He can do miracles? That He’s still good and loving if He doesn’t? Or if it doesn’t feel like it?

When we get to the point where we believe that… everything changes. There is newfound strength, joy, peace, freedom, excitement, and hope. No longer do our hopeless situations define us. No longer do the hard things in life cause us to crumble under the weight. He renews our strength so we soar on wings like the eagles. No longer are we a slave to sin, but we are alive in Christ!! And we don’t deserve it. And it sounds too good to be true… but He is the God of too good to be true. Except with Him, it’s true. The question is, do we believe that?

Are we willing to let go of our doubts and believe that? Even though it’s hard? Are we willing to live for Him even when it’s not comfortable? Do we really believe that Jesus is who He says He is?

Once we believe that, we can’t help but live for Him, because we know that it’s the least we can do. Once we live for Him, the best is always yet to come. Whether we’re at our worst, or our best in this life, we still have Heaven to look forward to, which will forever be better than the best we can ever imagine. You’re not stuck. Things aren’t hopeless. Your life is not over. Do you believe?

And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free...