February 16: God Loves Our New Beginnings, No Matter How Many

Affirmation: I allow myself to love who I AM, not who I SHOULD be.

~~~~~~~

Ponder, Personalize: Focus on the final phrases of this verse. “…in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” As you personalize these phrases listen for God singing over you. What an amazing thought! 

Zephaniah 3:17 

“The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” 
https://youtu.be/sIDu0sz8zDs?si=jVYAzRHhSuWs3vr4
Tommy Walker. Lord I Run to You

~~~~~~~

Catching Whimsy by Bob Goff 

                        Feb 16

God Loves our New Beginnings, No Matter How Many

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the New is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
Have you ever had a dream or ambition and told yourself, “OK I’m going to begin working on this daily soon, “only to defer or dismiss the idea yet again? Perhaps you immediately started thinking about all the times you tried before. Maybe like me you set your sights on doing the keto diet and ended up doing the Cheeto diet. or maybe you were looking for permission or approval and bailed on the launch of a new ambition before you even rolled out your rocket ship of ideas onto the tarmac. Or maybe you revisited all your weaknesses and thought, who am I to be pursuing something this big and grand?

I have thought of all these reasons not to act and dozens more, and probably you have too. What has helped me is to reframe what I am doing not as failing again but starting again, and this makes it somehow easier for me to press forward. It feels like finding a cheat code for life and a fresh start on a worthwhile endeavor.

I love that God‘s promise to us is this: we are new creations. When Paul was writing his letters to the Corinthians, he explained to the new church that we aren’t stuck with all the previous versions of ourselves.

God made it so we could fall asleep, wake up, and try again. In this way, each day is a beautiful reset. When you start over, don’t allow yourself to pitch a tent in the shame or regret or disappointment of the days behind you. Say to yourself “New day, new me. I’m beginning again.”

Pick something big and grand and lasting, and give it everything you’ve got. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted with half measures, moving the peas around on the plate doing something small and safe and temporary.

Remember, you are the daughter or son of a huge and dangerous and infinitely kind God, and we don’t need to scare so easily anymore.