Today's Devotional Written By Tracy Koweh, My Babygirl, and a Strong Woman Of God!
When God has your back,You only need to look forward...
Philippians 3:12-14 (Amplified Bible)
12Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.
13I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.
New Year’s Eve is such a magical evening. No matter where you are or how you bring it in, there is a feeling of hope in the atmosphere. There are celebrations, toasts, and all types of gatherings to usher in the new year.
Happy New Year. This phrase could be heard all around the world in every country, in every time zone, in every home. But what does it really mean? Happy NEW Year. It should be a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. People will begin to make a million resolutions that they won’t keep past January. Relationships will start anew and people will return to their jobs rejuvenated. But what happens when your boss ask you to stay late the night you have made plans, or your best friend forgets to call you back one night. We immediately jump back into the old mind set. That clean slate you gave them is washed away.
I brought in the new year at church with my baby girl. I left feeling on top of the world. I was completely filled up and sold out. I was determined that this was going to my year. The year I wasn’t going to let anyone or anything hold me back from the blessings that God had for me. I was on such a spiritual high that I slept almost the entire day for my natural body to restore itself.
Well fast forward to New Years Day around 5pm. I felt such a heaviest jump on me. I could only cry and feel frustrated. The weights, frustrations, and stresses that had plagued me in 2008 all seemed to be magnified so much in this moment that I couldn’t feel anything but numb. I began to remember the things that I had wanted in 08 and didn’t get or accomplish. I began to feel depressed and angry. Angry for the position I was in because of helping others. Depressed for not being able to see my way back to where I would be, had I taken the selfish road.
Then the greatest thing happened. I remembered it was MY NEW YEAR. I remembered how I had felt less than 24hours before this momentary breakdown and I CHOOSE to refocus. I made up in my mind that last year is in the past and I can’t do anything about it but work to make my future better. And if that wasn’t enough, God had Lisa call me at that very moment. She too had experienced that same kind of “trip down memory lane”, and she also decided to not look back. I needed to know that I wasn’t alone in this thing and God used her to show me I wasn’t.
In life we have highs and lows, good days and bad days, and ups and downs, but through it all we have a choice. A choice to choose how we will respond to each situation. When we allow people, situations or our circumstances to change who we are, we allow them to become a god in our lives and that is idolatry. So today let’s resolve to focus and STAY focused on God’s vision for our lives this year. All it takes is one bad phone call, one bad flashback, or one bad argument to remind us of how things use to be. But praise God that all it takes is one prayer, one ounce of faith, and one moment with God to pick us back up again and place us in position to fulfill our destiny. May you all have a Happy NEW Year.
Philippians 3:12-14 (Amplified Bible)
12Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.
13I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.
New Year’s Eve is such a magical evening. No matter where you are or how you bring it in, there is a feeling of hope in the atmosphere. There are celebrations, toasts, and all types of gatherings to usher in the new year.
Happy New Year. This phrase could be heard all around the world in every country, in every time zone, in every home. But what does it really mean? Happy NEW Year. It should be a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. People will begin to make a million resolutions that they won’t keep past January. Relationships will start anew and people will return to their jobs rejuvenated. But what happens when your boss ask you to stay late the night you have made plans, or your best friend forgets to call you back one night. We immediately jump back into the old mind set. That clean slate you gave them is washed away.
I brought in the new year at church with my baby girl. I left feeling on top of the world. I was completely filled up and sold out. I was determined that this was going to my year. The year I wasn’t going to let anyone or anything hold me back from the blessings that God had for me. I was on such a spiritual high that I slept almost the entire day for my natural body to restore itself.
Well fast forward to New Years Day around 5pm. I felt such a heaviest jump on me. I could only cry and feel frustrated. The weights, frustrations, and stresses that had plagued me in 2008 all seemed to be magnified so much in this moment that I couldn’t feel anything but numb. I began to remember the things that I had wanted in 08 and didn’t get or accomplish. I began to feel depressed and angry. Angry for the position I was in because of helping others. Depressed for not being able to see my way back to where I would be, had I taken the selfish road.
Then the greatest thing happened. I remembered it was MY NEW YEAR. I remembered how I had felt less than 24hours before this momentary breakdown and I CHOOSE to refocus. I made up in my mind that last year is in the past and I can’t do anything about it but work to make my future better. And if that wasn’t enough, God had Lisa call me at that very moment. She too had experienced that same kind of “trip down memory lane”, and she also decided to not look back. I needed to know that I wasn’t alone in this thing and God used her to show me I wasn’t.
In life we have highs and lows, good days and bad days, and ups and downs, but through it all we have a choice. A choice to choose how we will respond to each situation. When we allow people, situations or our circumstances to change who we are, we allow them to become a god in our lives and that is idolatry. So today let’s resolve to focus and STAY focused on God’s vision for our lives this year. All it takes is one bad phone call, one bad flashback, or one bad argument to remind us of how things use to be. But praise God that all it takes is one prayer, one ounce of faith, and one moment with God to pick us back up again and place us in position to fulfill our destiny. May you all have a Happy NEW Year.
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