Happy New Year everyone! I hope this blog finds you well and that you are putting your best foot forward in this new year. I wanted to blog today and connect with you to share in my spiritual journey and give y’all an update about how God is working in my life.
Every year, close to and surrounding my birthday (November 19th), I begin to reflect on my life – where I have been and where I am headed. I know that we just entered into a new year and many people use the new year as a benchmark for future resolutions and goal setting etc. I think that is wonderful, but I usually do that when I am going into another year of life. I take the time to examine myself and look at past failures, triumphs, valleys and hilltops that I have experienced in my life. Each year I grow older, I feel renewed. I feel excited for what is to come and I am grateful for the experiences, both good and bad that have shaped my life. When the new year rolls around, I try to just choose a word that will set the tone and define what I expect to achieve in this new year. This year, I am choosing the word RENEWAL.
It may not seem like a powerful word to you, but to me it is. You see, the past two years specifically, have been years of stretching and molding. God has been renewing and restoring me, piece by piece. I spent a lot of sleepless nights crying myself to sleep, questioning everything, going to counseling and making major adjustments in my life post divorce. I had to start fresh and think very differently about my life and adjust the scope that I had been seeing my life through, with the idea that a person I vowed to love for the rest of my life, was no longer going to be a part of my future. A shift had to happen in my life, a “renewing of the mind” if you will…
I had to also think about how I viewed myself. I had to take responsibility for myself and my actions. I had to come to terms with the fact that even though I did not necessarily want the divorce (although I said I did), I was not always a perfect wife.
When you get divorced, regardless of the circumstance, it really is a difficult ship to sail. You have to adjust everything in your life. It takes a toll on you – mentally, physically and emotionally. & unless you cling tight to your faith and renew your mind and spirit, the enemy will try to use your divorce against you to tear you down. The enemy will whisper lies to you and try to test your faith. He will remind you everyday of your mistakes and try to make you feel worthless or like somehow, you are no longer good enough or worthy to be loved.
However, God doesn’t just whisper sweet nothings in our ears. He tells us very clearly through His Word, how He feels about us and what we mean to Him. He says that in Him we have hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). He declares that the same power that rose Jesus from the grave, lives in us (Romans 8:11). He also tells us that no weapon formed against us can or will prosper (Isaiah 54:17). I could go on and on…because God only has the best in mind for us. He wants us to be happy, healthy and strong in our faith.
Recently, I was letting the enemy remind me of some of the things from my past but luckily for me God doesn’t keep tabs on me. When he forgives me, He forgets my trespasses against Him. He doesn’t bring them back up to me. He doesn’t use them against me. Praise God for that!
That being said, I am really looking forward to what lies ahead. I know that what the enemy intends for bad, the Lord uses for good in my life. I know that the enemy is already defeated and anything he attempts to use against me, the Lord has already gone before me. The past year was a year of reconciliation in many ways, reconciling my relationship with myself, with others and with the Lord – so this year, I am excited for my year of renewal! Renewing of my mind and spirit everyday, believing and trusting in the Lord’s plan for my life. I can’t wait!
What about you? What is your word for the year?
