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Devotions for the Creative Spirit
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Starting Over
It’s Jan 1st, and the calendar year is starting over. Are you making your list of New Year resolutions? In what area of your life do you want to improve? Most of us have a few things we want to change and start over doing differently. Well, guess what. God is all about change! Just look around you. The leaves on the trees continue to change in color until they are taken by the wind and fall to another stage of their existence. The clouds constantly change their patterns over our heads, and the seasons change every few months to make our world reflect different times for different activities. And God changes our hearts and minds as we give our life and work to Him! It is natural at the beginning of a new year to think about making changes. But we don’t have to wait for January 1st to start over. Nor do we have to feel like a failure if we didn’t accomplish what we set out to do in the previous year or even last week or yesterday. Though our God is a God of change, He doesn’t change in His love for us and His belief in us, which means we have the ultimate support network rooting for us. I want to say that again. He doesn’t change regarding His love or His belief in us. How does that impact our new year? It means that even if we can't accomplish what we resolutely commit to do today, God will help us start over at any time, not just at the beginning of a new year. Why? Because He loves us too much not to help us. Paul writes, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 1:6.) He wants us to start over, until we get it right. It is in His best interest, because we are His child and His creation. I don’t know about you, but I am a slow learner. I continually let myself down and unfortunately, sometimes others. But whatever progress I have made in anything has been due to my faith in Christ, who knows my good intentions, and stands by me and for me. His unconditional love for me is the reason I can get up and start over! I heard recently that many successful novelists wrote one or more novels before they wrote their first published one. What if they had not started again? God is waiting to cheer you on. He wants you to succeed. *Peter Lowe, founder/CEO of Success Seminars says, “‘the most common trait I have found in all successful people is that they have conquered the temptation to give up.’” God, through His Son, Jesus Christ is there to take our hand if we just persevere. It is important for us to understand that when we fail we can start over. because we are not alone. My fellow artists, rest in the knowledge and assurance of God’s ability to complete the work He has started in you. He is the author of completion and the lover of your work. He believes in you when no one else does, and He is cheering you on when you need to start over at anytime. Perhaps our New Year’s resolution for this year should not just be to make a change for the better, but to learn how to start over again and again with Jesus. It is in Christ Jesus that we are made perfect, who completes the good He has started.
Dear God, Thank you for the ability to start over. Help me believe that YOU believe in ME. 1st Corinthians 13: 7 says, love “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Help me to know that these are qualities of the love You possess for ME. Help me, Lord, to feel these truths in my heart when I need to start over, so that I may call on your strength. I vow, Lord, to trust You enough to make new attempts when necessary. Also, Father, help me not to miss your perfect plan when I start over. And Lord, help me not to look back, but only forward ,because I know you will complete the good work you have started in me.
Additional Scriptures: Philippians 3:12-15, Philippians 4:13, Jeremiah 29:11, James 1:12, James 5:11
* Maxwell, John C. The Journey from Success to Significance. pp 58 |
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