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New Year, Same Story


With the beginning of every year, there is typically excitement in the air.  A new year seems like the perfect place to start fresh.  To make changes.  A new year brings 365 days of opportunity as one chapter closes and another waits to be opened.  We make resolutions, goals, and dream of what the next year might bring.  We make plans to leave the past year's pain and hardships behind as we enter a new year, currently a new decade, and just KNOW things will be better!

But now, you have made it to January 3rd.  In those three short days, what if the newness of the year is already starting to wear off, and you're realizing it's still life.  And life is HARD.

Unfortunately, pain doesn't go away just because the year does.  That hurt you so much wanted to leave behind was the first thing to greet you when you woke up Wednesday.  That sin you were so determined to beat came with even more temptations.  That resolution went out the window.  Maybe those plans and dreams you were so sure were coming have already dissolved in front of your face.  

New year, same story.  Life is hard.

While you may not see the evidence of your story changing at this time, despite how much you want it to, there is one story that I am thankful will never change.  One story so powerful, with so many amazing details as everything falls into place, filled with so many hopes, promises, and power, that can be summed up beautifully in one verse:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  John 3:16

You might be feeling stuck, forgotten, or empty as January settles in, but this one verse is a reminder that those feelings couldn't be further from the truth.

Your dreams may be crashing in front of you, but you are not forgotten.  You are so LOVED that the only perfect man DIED to give you eternal freedom.  You may be struggling with sin, but that death and freedom means you don't have to fight it alone; the battle has already been won for you, and there is nothing you can do to undo His grace.  The pain you are feeling will one day be completely replaced as you are able to worship at the feet of Jesus.

How sweet that is!!!

New year, same story.  Life is hard, but Jesus is good.  He fought our battles and hope through Him doesn't fade over time.

The Lord Reigns forever and ever.  Exodus 15:18

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