Showing posts with label God's mercy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's mercy. Show all posts

In With the New

 

Chris' adorable smile

Happy New Year to everyone who reads and keeps up with this devotional. I pray this year is one of immense blessings, peace, and restoration. I seriously only want to look back on 2020. It's been quite the year for everyone. I have to say that I have learned a lot, grown some, and changed a lot over the last 12 months. But you know that nothing actually changed from 11:59:59 on December 31, 2020, to 12:00:00 am on January 1, 2021. Right?

We are still in the midst of a pandemic. The political climate is chaotic at best. And most of the world seems to have gone stark raving mad. lol. Nothing is really too new except the date today. lol. Thinking about all of this led me to think about the things about God that don't change with the date. You know? He doesn't have a timer that goes off on New Year's Day. Which New Year's Day would He choose? The Jewish calendar is different from ours. The Chinese New Year won't happen for a few more days. There isn't a "New Years Day" in heaven. It's just Day because He is the light. 

But - it is a new day for us and God chose to accommodate. Jeremiah tells us that His mercies are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:23) It's not a morning for HIM - so He orchestrated that just for us. Each of our new mornings we are met with His mercies to carry us through. Isaiah prophesied Behold I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth. So, there seems that there was an appointed time -  or a specific point in time that God caused roads in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:19) 

God is not governed by the timeframe of earth. But He does have certain spots in time that He places things. Jesus came at the appointed time. So even though God does not change with time or in response to time - He can make all things new. Matter of fact, He said that we are a new creation in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

So on a day when we can hope all things are new - while we are still trying to shed the baggage of the old year - God remains. He is faithful, merciful, and full of love and grace toward us as we move into a new year in our time scale.

Today,  I will remind myself that it was God who carried me (us) through 2020 and He is not jumping ship now! My meditations will be on how He has been faithful and He will continue to be faithful. I'll set my mind on the consistency of God and let that carry me through the hectic days that lie ahead. I will rest in Him and trust Him for this first day of 2021. Will you join me?


Even in the Ugly

 

Chris standing at the park

My thoughts are all over the place this morning. That's not really anything new for me. Lol. I know you know the juggling drill. My mind is running through all the tasks I need to get done today - some of them are brought over from yesterday as I didn't get done with them then. I'm looking ahead to next month and trying to sort out finances, supplies, aids, and the list goes on. I am 99.9% sure you have a running list that looks almost like mine! 

So, how does God keep tabs on all that? Psalm 139 reminds us that He knows our thoughts before we think them and our words before we speak them. Man...He is busy! Nothing has caught Him by surprise. Not our caregiving journies, the global pandemic, the crazy politics... He already knew all of that. And, He's gone before us into 2021 and beyond. That just blows my mind.

Isaiah says it this way Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord or as His counselor has informed Him? Who taught God all this? Right? Then in the next verse of Isaiah 40, the prophet says With whom did He consult and who gave Him knowledge and informed Him of the way of understanding? I cannot comprehend how God knows so much - but I know He does. And I know He knows me through and through.

He is not too busy to be intimated acquainted with my ways or my thoughts. Y'all, that blows my little mind. People often choose not to be around me - I understand that - I'm a bit high-strung! lol. But God NEVER chooses to separate from me or my craziest thoughts. And trust me, I can be way out there sometimes. 

I don't know about you, but as a caregiver, particularly when my son is not doing well or having a rough time, my thoughts get very ugly really fast. Memories of him before the accident run through my head and seem to mock me when I see all he can't do right now. I get angry, frustrated, and oftentimes I want to just give up. God never shies away from that kind of ugly. He waits. He comforts. He consoles. He carries me until I can try to stand again. But He never gives up on me. I'm grateful.

Today, I will just be grateful for His compassions, mercies, grace, and love that never fail. I'll purposefully be thankful for His heart that is always chasing mine down even in the ugly. I'll take joy in the truth that He still wants to be with me even when I am very sure I've given Him lots of reasons to not want to be with me! And today - when He chases me. I'll let Him catch me. Will you join me?

The Stare

  Do you ever just find yourself sitting and staring at the wall? It doesn't really happen too often because, quite frankly, who has tim...