Happy New Year!

Goodbye 2020!

Bring on 2021!

What are you most excited about in the new year?

What makes you want to jump out of bed each morning?

What dreams and goals are stirring in your heart?

No one can deny the difficulty of 2020. It was a challenging year to say the least. I have heard many people say they can’t wait for the year to be over and the new year to begin. And I can’t help but think though 2020 was a crazy year, what will 2021 bring? Here is the thing…we don’t know…

Uncertainty is scary. It can leave us fearful and anxious. It can paralyze us. It can make us miss the present moment…we can forget to live today. For 2021, I find myself with a deep desire to live fully everyday.

How do you want to live each day of 2021?

We can be encouraged by God’s Word to live fully today. Scripture is filled with the many promises of God. I found three that are going to be in my arsenal for 2021.

Matthew 6:34  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Our life should be tethered to God. He is our highest priority. This verse follows Jesus’ teaching on worry. When we are worried about tomorrow (on things that may never happen), it robs us of our joy today. It takes our eyes off the One (the only One) who sustains us today.

Proverbs 3:5-6  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

This is one of my favorites! We are instructed to rely entirely upon His Word and promises. The world is full of information. What or who are you relying on? A daily dose of God’s Word is what changes the heart. The word acknowledge expresses a communion, a relationship, a submission to the Lord. One of the ways this is created is by stepping into His throne room each day. His desire for us is to live a life of righteousness. Without Him directing our paths, we are on the crooked road; the one that leads to death.

John 10:10  …I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd! Starting with verse 1, Jesus describes His work as being a shepherd. He leads and guides His sheep. The sheep know His voice. In verse 7, Jesus changes the metaphor from Shepherd to door or gate. The door or gate represents that through Jesus we can receive eternal life. He goes on to be the Passover Lamb cleansing us of our sins.

We are not guaranteed a life of bliss or freedom from challenges, but choosing a life with Christ, we are guaranteed eternal life. That He, as our Shepherd, who promises to lead and guide us, to be with us and never forsake us, gives both a life today and eternally. Genesis 28:15, Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5-6

Friends, may this fill you with a new, life-giving hope for 2021. May His Word, filled with His promises, renew your spirit with a fresh expectancy for today.   

I want to live fully today. How about you?