Month: January 2019

I had such high hopes at the start of the new year. In fact, in my post, Not A Resolution, I wrote about doing a “realignment” with God instead of a resolution. The idea was to spend time with God and ask Him what He wanted me to be about this year. I wanted to fill my calendar, in an intentional way, with eternally valuable things.

And then my 4-year-old got a fever — a fever that would just not go away. On top of that, he developed a hacky cough. A visit to the Doctor’s office was in order and the diagnosis was what I suspected and dreaded at the same time:  the beginnings of pneumonia. Pneumonia! My 4-year-old? How was that possible?

The poor little guy was really a champ the whole time. Unfortunately he woke up a few times each night (which means Mommy, Daddy and little brother were also usually awakened). The sleep deprivation began to creep it’s ugly way into my high hopes and plans for the new year.

As one child was healing, another was getting sick. Yes, it’s true. The little brother developed a scary-high fever. No!!! I am typically calm in highly stressful situations…unless it involves my children. When the little one’s forehead felt like it was on fire, my heart began to race.

One week after our initial doctor visit, we were back, this time for a younger patient. After his exam and some testing, it was determined he must have something viral. Thankfully, his fever broke later that day and he was quickly on the mend. His sleep however, continued to be fitful, and mommy’s sleep deprivation increased.

Sickness and sleep deprivation sabotaged everything on my calendar. Or did it? Keep reading.

In my last blog post, All Things New, I alluded to another something “new” that I had found in Scripture and was going to share with you. I was so excited about it. It was something I hadn’t studied before and it was the perfect time to do so at the start of a new year.

What was it? It was a “new song.”

“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.” Ps. 96:1

See also:  Ps. 33:3, Ps. 40:3, Ps. 96:1, Ps. 98:1, Ps. 149:1, Is. 42:10, Rev. 5:9, Rev. 14:3. 

It was definitely the “new” that caught my attention more so than the singing. Don’t get me wrong, I love singing to the Lord and worshipping Him in that way. But how often do I sing Him a new song? What did David and the other Biblical authors have in mind when they talked about singing a new song? What was significant about it being new?

Upon further study, I discovered that these songs were a way to express thankfulness and praise for something new God had done. David, and other Biblical writers, recognized God’s mercy and goodness in their lives and felt that those things merited a new song or hymn of praise. 

The commentator Matthew Henry, poignantly noted, “What a pity it is that this earth, which is so full of the proofs and instances of God’s goodness, should be so empty of his praises; and that of the multitudes who live upon his bounty, there are so few who live to his glory!”

I, for one, don’t want to be empty of praises to my Lord and Savior. He has been so very good to me and continues to show His mercy daily. But to be brutally honest, with really sick children and no sleep, I was in no mood to sing God’s praises.

Exhaustion was weighing me down. Children, whom I love very much, were extra needy, and seemed to require what little energy I had left. Getting food on the table and dishes in the dishwasher seemed like a major accomplishment each day.

The new routine we were starting for the new year was already off kilter (in the first weeks of January!). I felt a sense of disappointment at not being able to kick off the year like I had hoped and dreamed. Sabotage! Or was it?

You know, for a while there, I did feel like my plans got sabotaged, until I remembered my “realignment” time with God. It helped me have a purposeful plan for the foreseeable future. Now, admittedly, I did not foresee my children getting sick. But, God did. His plans for the first few weeks of January looked different than mine. He seems to have wanted me to spend more time with my kiddos 🙂

I may not have had a song in my heart when I was awake in the middle of the night with one or both of my kids, but I am soooo very grateful that they didn’t have anything worse and that they are both well now.

Ironically, God’s protection over my kids is what provoked the “new song,” in my heart that I initially thought their sickness sabotaged.

Each week I challenge myself, and you, to “go be radiant.” This week, maybe that looks like having a new song in our hearts.

 

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and have started the new year off well.

Did you decide to join me in doing a “realignment” with God instead of a resolution? If so, I would love to hear from you. I pray it has helped you start off the new year on the right foot.

There’s something encouraging to me about being in a new year and having the opportunity to start fresh. Speaking of new, did you receive some new things for Christmas? Maybe you were given some new clothes or fun new tech toy.

Have you noticed that when you first wear new clothes you actually feel a little different? Maybe you feel a bit of excitement or more confident. There might even be a sassy spring in your step.

I was thinking about this idea of newness while taking an early morning trip to the airport. The sun hadn’t come up yet but light was beginning to make its presence known. It began to brighten the deepest shades of blue before me and I was in awe of the sapphire-like colors.

It’s hard to look at a sky like that and not think of the God who created it. I started thinking of the verse that says that God’s mercies are new every morning. As I did, a few more verses with the word, “new” came to mind.

I wanted to see just how many times the Bible talks about “new”, so I looked it up. I was amazed at how many verses I found.

Here are a handful of examples:

• Ez. 18:31 and 36:26 talk about the idea of a new heart and a new spirit
• Jer. 31:31, Lk. 22:20 and 1 Cor. 11:25 talk about a new covenant
• 2 Cor. 5:17 says that whoever is in Christ is a new creation
• Lam. 3:22-23 tell us that God’s mercies or compassions are new every morning

Each of these passages about “new” things would make for a worthwhile study if you are looking for something for your devotional time.

Let’s take a few minutes and delve a little deeper into the idea of God’s mercies being new every morning. What does that mean exactly and why is that important?

If you read chapter 3 of Lamentations, it begins in a rather bleak fashion. The more you read, the more you wonder if there is ever going to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Thankfully, there is, and the author calls it hope.

The author tells us that despite how bad things can be for sinners, there is hope in God and in His mercies or compassions, which never run out. There is no end to them. In fact, they are renewed each morning.

If you think about everything on this planet, all of it is destined to perish. God’s mercies are not like that. Though streams dry up, trees fall and plants wither, God and His mercies remain.

What an encouragement to know that we can trust in, and rely on, God’s mercy and compassion. Regardless of our circumstances, regardless of those sins we still struggle with, regardless of any tornedo of negativity threatening to snatch us up, God’s mercy is available and plentiful.

Not only that, but as we read in 2 Cor. 5:17, in Christ we are a new creation! The old has gone and the new has come. The blood of Christ has made us clean and new.

Even though it is nice to have new things, it is infinitely more valuable to be a new thing, a new creation.

As we think about the new year, may it remind us that we are a new creation in Christ and God’s mercies are new every morning. May that bring us hope in 2019 and may we reflect that in our quest to go be radiant.

Come back next week for another something “new” I found in the Bible. You won’t want to miss it!

Please leave your comments below. See you next time.