Dec 22, 2016
by Donna VanHorn
You may be one of those folks who pooh-pooh the idea of New Year’s resolutions. If it has to do with promising to exercise more often, or taking decadent desserts off the menu, then I’m totally in your corner. Seriously though, I’m guessing that deep in your heart, you have at least secret regrets about some of your thoughts or behaviors in the year just ended. We all have a list of do-over’s we work on constantly. I know my list includes times when I spoke in anger and haste and hurt someone close to me. It also includes those moments when I could have ministered in my own unique way to someone needing what only I could offer. Sadly, I wasn’t tuned in and failed to see the moment.
If we accept that we’re God’s children — an abundance of Scripture gives us that assurance — then His grace has already taken care of those do-overs. If we choose to do an instant replay of 2016, we’ll be aware of the moments when He upheld us in times of stress, or provided for us in times of need, or simply let us fly on our own to appreciate how He’s gifted us. As I look into this New Year, I appreciate that my vision isn’t perfect. There’ll be circumstances I can’t anticipate that will probably end up on next year’s list of do-overs. But what I do know is that by recommitting my life to Jesus Christ, as my Savior and Leader, the list will be marked “finished” even before I try to write it down next January 1.
At the moment, I’m meditating on Psalm 23. Not the part we associate with funerals. Far from that, I’m seeing and loving the assurance the Psalmist gives me about the days and years ahead. Let these verses speak to your heart and encourage you as well, as you resolve to live in and with Him this New Year.
“Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
—Psalm 23:6
For information about Donna’s devotional book, Tune God In: Your Heart’s His Receiver, visit her website at www.tunegodin.com
