Out with the old...In with the New

YIKES!
I totally forgot to link to my Devo at Internet Café last week!
Please visit me there!!!!!!

January is filled to overflowing with the promise of a fresh start, and for years I made resolutions that I believed would help me become the person I wanted to be. Problem is, the things we resolve to remove from (or add to) our lives on January 1^st are just symptoms of the things that truly hold us captive and steal our joy. As long as we only address the symptoms, we will be in the same worn out, weighed down, weary place this time next year.

 

So, before January slips into February and the hope of the New Year is a distant memory, let’s look at the heart-issues that steal our joy and peace. The list is made up of  things like guilt, regret, anxiety, bitterness, rage, hopelessness, shame, longing, and all manner of hurt.

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My Word and Verse for 2016

Earlier this month, my friend Leah Adams wrote about her Word for 2016. I have claimed a verse for the year before, but never a word. I love the idea and have spent the past several days consumed with asking God to give me my own word for 2016.

Ironically, the word I believe He has given me is “Balance”.  I blew this off for several days, thinking that it wasn’t NEARLY profound enough. Not even remotely spiritual enough. So I kept searching and asking and still got “Balance”.  Once I stopped looking for something else to cling to, I realized that this really does make absolute perfect sense.

Several years ago a doctor diagnosed me with OCD and I laughed…because I am a TERRIBLE house keeper. After talking with him, I realized that there is much more to OCD than keeping a clean house or washing your hands 100 times a day. Actually my lack of house cleaning is something that evolved as I lost control over what goes on in my home. I can’t keep things the way they “should” be, so I just gave up. (That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it) Obviously, I am only mildly OCD (if I really even am at all) and I am very thankful for that. While there are some things in my life that “must” be a certain way, I really just obsess over things. When my brain latches onto something, it is all I can think about until I somehow resolve it. Sadly, most everything else is neglected until I get to the end of whatever it is that I am obsessing about…and once I resolve it, I’m done. THIS is what I believe God desires for me to balance out.

So, even though I originally thought it was silly, “Balance” is a great word for me to claim in 2016.

Now, for my verse, I am teetering between Colossians 3:17, Matthew 6:33, and Luke 12:34. All deal with priorities and I’m not sure which is pressing on me more.

Going to pray about it for a while longer.

 

If you have a verse/word for 2016, I'd love to hear about it!