Happy New Year!

It is a new year!  It is time for new beginnings.  There are various times throughout the year that people will associate with a new start.  There is of course January 1, as that is the start of the new year.  There is the start of the new semester for students as that means new classes and the opportunities to meet new people.  There is the start of summer, because new adventures await.  Finally there is the start of the new school year.  Then there are always new starts in adult life, new relationships, new jobs or positions, or new homes.  With each new start people find themselves trying to make changes so that each new start will be a better situation than the last.

The problem with wishing that things will be better with each new start is that people are creatures of habit.  Sooner or later we tend to fall back into our old routines.  It is very difficult to give up old habits, those habits are familar and comfortable.  That is why most new year's resolutions tend to fail.  Now not everyone fails at their resolutions, because God did give us free will so we are capable of changing things.  Most of the time people use that free will to go back to what is comfortable.

I have tried numerous times to change myself.  I usually fail these attempts, as I am a weak person.  I also had a hard time trying to make myself be a person who would stand out.  I was more comfortable not being noticed.  I didn't want to draw attention to myself.  I wanted to be in the shadows, I felt that if I didn't draw attention to myself, then there was no chance to be ridiculed.  The last thing that I wanted when I was in High School was to be made fun of.  I usually didn't succeed in this attempt, but I tried. 

I went through my teens and twenties with something missing in my life.  I kept making resolutions to try to make my life fulfilling.  I eagerly grasped at each new beginning thinking this was going to be the one that was going to make my life complete.  Each new beginning left me empty.  It was exciting and fun at first, but then I found myself empty eventually.  Then I came upon a resolution that after making the resolution, everything else I had always wanted to change was no longer needed.  This resolution made me happy with myself.  It made me happier with others.  It made me appreciate everything that I had and everything that I had gone through.  This resolution was the biggest change in my life.  I didn't have to wait until the new year, actually I made the resolution in April, but that was a start of new life for me.

The resolution was simple, it was accepting Christ as my saviour.  I accepted his unconditional love for me.  He taught me forgiveness, helped me to let go of anger, made me strong in my convictions, helped me to love me as I am.  When I accepted Christ in my life, there were so many hurts that were healed.  I also felt lighter, knowing that He was going to take care of things for me.  I was able to let go of stress and baggage that I had carried around for a long time.  It was a new birth for me.

Now, I am still a human.  I make mistakes.  I just continue to strive to live like Christ.  I strive to love everyone, and to do good things in the world.  No matter what you believe, you should always strive to be a good person. 

Anyway the bible talks to us about the new birth I experienced.  2 Corinthians 5:17-21 says this:  "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.  We implore you on Christ's behalf:  Be reconciled to God.  God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

The old me has gone away.  I am a much better person that I ever was before.  I resolved that April to accept Christ in my life, and it was the best resolution I could have ever made.  It made everything else just click, everything else fell into place.  I no longer felt empty.  Every other resolution I have made sense have not had the promise of fulfillment such as the Christ resolution.  I have been reconciled and forgiven.  I fell that no matter what happens here on earth, I am loved!  I can do nothing that will make God love me more or less than he does right now.  You can have all of this also!

I hope that you will take the time to consider resolving to let Christ into your life.  It is the one new beginning that has the promise to make you into everything you didn't know you could become.

God Bless!

Dueces
~Jennifer