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As the new year begins, take some encouragement from the Word on your fresh start.
A fresh start can be exciting…and stressful
Often when we make pivots or think about changing our habits for the better, we get caught up in thinking about all the things WE have to do. We make it all about OUR strength and plaster our walls with motivational posters to ensure we don’t quit.
I made the mistake of thinking and behaving that way a lot when I was younger. Growing up in poverty, I didn’t have safety nets. Nobody handed anything to me on a platter. So, I learned that if I wanted something, it was up to me to unpack the logistics, and there wasn’t a lot of room for failure.
When I started college, it was all about how well I could do in my courses. Then it was figuring out how to be a wife and mother. At these big milestones, I felt like it was up to me to make everything work. No one had taught me otherwise. I tried all kinds of tracking, mastered strict routines, and was the queen of contingency planning. I got through a lot. But I was ridiculously anxious because I thought all of the responsibility for success and happiness was on my shoulders. I still struggle with this “I must all by myself” mindset and easily lapse into it if I’m not careful.
But that’s not how it has to be.
Remember, you’re in partnership with God, and He can handle it all
Many of these verses focus on what GOD is doing, not you. They’re about what HE has promised to you, not what you have promised to yourself. That matters because we often don’t keep the promises we make to ourselves, as a million articles on failed resolutions will tell you.
But God can’t break a promise (Numbers 23:19). His only option is to follow through.
So, when you need a fresh start, stop looking so much to yourself. He will give you incredible confidence and grit. But even when your confidence and grit fail or you are too filled with embarrassment, shame, or fear to ask for it, He has enough of it to carry you the rest of the way.
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Image by Annette Meyer from Pixabay