New Every Morning.

Today is February 1, 2018.

Wow.

Where did those first promising 31 days go?

If you’re anything like me you make big plans for the first of the year.

I will:

Pray all the time, every second of the day.
Read my Bible, thrice a day. Yes, thrice.
Fix my bed, every day.
Workout twice a day.
Be nice to my children, all the time.
Eat healthy.
Sleep longer.
Paint a picture.
Write a book.
Make some new friends.
Do something!

There’s more, but I’ll stop there. How does your list read?

I’m hard on myself. I overestimate what I can accomplish in 31 days. I set the bar high and if I don’t reach it well then there I go again.

Might as well:

Think about praying.
Talk about reading my Bible.
Become a hoarder.
Drive by a gym.
Tolerate my children.
Eat. Just eat.
Shut my eyes for a few hours.
Buy a print.
Skim a book.
Tolerate stale relationships.
Do nothing.

In my mind, I get so far behind that I just want to stop trying and well...do nothing.

In my mind. I lose hope. Am I the only one?

I’m 32 days into 2018 and I’ve got some questions:

Who convinced us that January was a magical month?

Who says it has to be this way?

Who on earth made failure fatal?

I don’t know.

But, here’s my new thinking. Maybe, just maybe do overs are real. Maybe I can get the list out again and keep pushing through.

Maybe.

I love prophets. (Great segway.)

Jeremiah was a prophet. God spoke to Him and He spoke to God’s people.

He told them things they knew, but didn’t want to hear. Know anyone like that? They didn’t want to hear it, so they chose not to listen.

God set the bar high and provided them the steps to reach it, but they just didn’t want to climb.

Enter exile.

Now their gone. Their homes. Their dreams. Their way of living. All gone. Hopeless.

Jeremiah was devastated. “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord. I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them and my soul is downcast within me." Lamentations 3:18-20

They could have had it all, but they gave up and gave in and gave way for destruction.

Jeremiah was devastated. But he did something that would benefit us all.

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:21-24

This I call to mind. This I remember. This I remind myself of…

God’s love never stops.

His mercies are endless.

His faithfulness is great.

He IS.

So I can:

Hope again.
Try again.
Pray again.
Love again.
And again.
And again.
And again.

He’s got fresh, new, shiny mercy for me EVERY morning. He's not giving up on me. So why do I keep giving up?

Sometime my friends it’s just hard to believe.

But if we’re going to push through we better start believing.

I'm telling you.

The single mom. Has to believe.

The breast cancer patient. Has to believe.

The starving artist. Has to believe.

The medical missionary. Has to believe.

The small business owner. Has to believe.

YOU have to believe.

Do you believe?

Read my words: reminiscing and complaining about yesterday and worrying about and overestimating our tomorrows will produce no good thing in our lives.

Today, why not just believe?

You can sleep through the night.

You can be nice to your husband.

You can eat a salad.

You can forgive your father.

You can fix your bed.

You can read your Bible.

You can.

Here's a few things you can do that might help:

Wake up every morning and remind yourself of His faithfulness. Thank God for another day. Out loud.
Take a deep breath. If you're still breathing, your failure wasn't fatal.
Try something new. You'll never know all God can do, until you try something new.
Make your day. Make up your mind ahead of time: Today will be a good day.

Well, what if you fail?

Try again. Run to Mercy. And ask for a do over. For a make over.

He will NOT fail YOU.

Do you believe? If His mercies are new then you can be, too.

Clarrissa, that sounds good. Even easy. How can I trust you?

Trust the prophet.

In the midst of his devastation. (Just read the book of Jeremiah.) He believed.

Not in himself. Or in his nation - they had definitely failed.

He believed in His God. He knew His mercies were new. Every single morning.

How could he say that with confidence? Maybe because he knew the truth. No matter what It looks like. No matter how It feels. HE is the same.

God is the only One who can make all things new, yet remain the same.

Trust God.

Don't take Jeremiah's word for it. Take God's.

Then take hope.

It's a new day.

Try again.