A new year.

A new you.

A new commitment.

Maybe a recommitment.

Guys, please believe the following truth. Let it soak into your mind today and fill your heart with hope:

You’ve never messed up so much that your Father would stop loving you. You’ve never gone so far that your Father wouldn’t rescue you. You’ve never hurt Him so badly that He wouldn’t forgive you.

He’s your Father. You can always come back.

You can’t make him not love you. He’s ready and waiting for you. He is standing there right now with arms wide open. Run to Him today.

He’s ready to hold you. He’s ready to squeeze you. He’s ready to be the Lord of your life.

It’s time to come home.

“So he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Like 15:20

Adore.

To love. To respect. To hold dear. To be devoted to. To cherish. To worship.

Adore Him. Not just today but everyday.

Let him be the one that makes your eyes sparkle. The one you run to when you need a hug. The first person you think of when something good or bad happens.

Let Him be the one you depend on, lean on, love on. Let Him be your Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Your best friend.

Let him be the one.

“Lord, you are my God;

I will exalt you and praise your name,

for in perfect faithfulness

you have done wonderful things,

things planned long ago.” Isaiah 25:1

God sees you.

He knows you.

He loves you.

No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

He sees your mistakes, and He still loves you. He sees your ugly, and He still thinks your beautiful.

He sees your brokenness, and He will make you whole. In fact, He would love nothing more than to start putting the pieces of your heart back together.

You can’t make Him not love you. That’s a lie straight from the devil. Nothing you’ve done is too small or too big for God to forgive. Go ahead and get that out of your head.

Let God love you, guys. You are worthy. You are His.

“For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son, that we would not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Lists.

My whole life I’ve had a love/hate relationship with them. Just ask my sisters – or my husband.

I love to make a list. I love to check things off the list; however, when things linger on the list, when things aren’t crossed off in an appropriate amount of time, it drives me INSANE.

Until today – right now in this moment. I’ve decided to be ok with unchecked boxes. I’m not going to let this lingering list of Christmas to-do’s steal my joy. I’m just not.

Y’all, it’s the week before Christmas, and I haven’t wrapped a single present. I haven’t baked a single thing, but it’s seriously ok.

It’s ok because it’s the week before the birth of the most precious baby ever born. Can y’all imagine – Jesus as a baby.

It’s the week before the risen savior was born all those years ago. I bet His fingers curled around Mary’s as she sang and rocked Him softly through the night.

It really is the best week of the year. Let’s choose joy. Let’s choose to remember. Let’s embrace these moments. The peace. The love. The hope.

Let’s.

“6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”

Luke 2:6-7

Germs.

Small but strong. Unforeseen. A minute but mighty life-form that will wreck shop on our mental and physical daily to-do’s like a hurricane in Texas. I’m not making trying to be funny about that either – I’m being so serious.

Preventative care is our biggest defense. There are steps that we can take to help combat the infiltration of these tiny, microscopic pests on our complex, yet sometimes fragile system. But they are steps that we have to physically take.

Washing our hands-

And keeping them to ourselves.

Covering our mouth when we cough.

Taking vitamins.

Eating the right food.

Not sharing food or drink.

Rest.

Y’all already know what I’m about to say – isn’t it the same exact way with sin? It starts off tiny and makes its pesky way into our system. Before we know it there’s a full-fledge attack brewing. Once sin is there, once sin has figured out how to break through our shield of defense, it’s way harder to get rid of. Once it’s welcomed itself into its comfortable new home – that pesky little booger is ready to stay and campout for a while. Maybe even permanently.

But we have preventative strategies to stop sin as well, and boy do they work!

Talking to God.

Praying.

Praising.

Worshipping.

Staying in the word.

Prayer accountability partners.

Intentionality and focus.

Guys, instead of going about life all willy-nilly with the common, misconstrued mindset of “it can’t happen to me” I think it’s time we put these preventative strategies into place. It’s time to be proactive instead of reactive when it comes to the things entering into our complex but fragile systems.

It’s time.

Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you a deceitful mouth And put devious speech far from you. Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you. Watch the path of your feet And all your ways will be established. Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil.

⁃ Proverbs 4:23-27

🎼Fully known and loved by you.🎼

I love that song. I love what it means. Think it about it, guys. God knows every single thing about us, and He still loves us unconditionally.

The flaws, the secrets, the sin. He still loves us. He doesn’t dismiss us. And He is still here for us.

To be able to love like that – unabashedly, unwavering, unshakeable. My life goal: I want to love like Jesus.

Love regardless.

Love in spite.

Love instead.

Just love.

🎼It’s so like You to keep pursuing

It’s so like me to go astray, ooh

But You guard my heart with Your truth

The kind of love that’s bullet proof

And I surrender to Your kindness, oh🎼

That apple must have looked good. It must have been shiny. Mouth-watering. Eye-catching.

It had to have been. To give it all up.

I mean they literally had everything – except what they didn’t.

Was it really an apple that they were missing, or was it something more? Something deeper.

Was it an apple, or was it self-control? Was it really an apple, or was it peace? Was it a true, all-in, unshakable, love for God that their souls were really craving? Think about it.

Right now, what’s trying to catch your eye? What do you perceive to be missing?

Whatever it is, please don’t forget that God is shinier. Don’t let this world dim your desire for him. Don’t allow detrimental damage to be wreaked upon the journey that God has laid out for you.

Don’t justify.

Don’t compromise.

That apple isn’t worth it.

“Can a man walk on hot coals

without his feet being scorched?”

– Proverbs 6:28

Raise your hand if when you look at your December calendar you want to curl up in a ball and just take a nap.

Same.

There’s so much to do. So many places to go. It can get exhausting real quick like.

This holiday season I’ve made a promise not to get caught up. Not to get caught up in lists and schedules and to-dos and ta-dahs.

Y’all – Don’t let a busy schedule steal your joy. Don’t let a daunting to-do list make you miss out on what’s happening all around you. Don’t allow it to make you miss a Jesus moment.

Let’s choose to be in the moment. Let’s choose to be in THIS moment.

You’re not Santa Claus. Don’t let a list dictate your December.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13

We all have our hang-ups.

And sometimes we just need to – hang – them – up. I know that was cheesy, but it’s the truth.

Seriously. What are you so fixated on today that you can’t move past it? What’s holding you up? What’s stopping you in your tracks?

I can get hung up on a schedule. I can get hung up on a lingering mess. Hurt feelings. Past mistakes. Regrets. All sorts of things can catch my attention and just squeeze the life out of me.

We can get so set in our ways – so set in our way of thinking – that a minute detail can stop us in our tracks faster than a momma getting caught moving the elf in December.

Amen.

Whether your hang-up is something big or something small, it’s time to let it go. You’ve got to stop hanging on. It’s time to walk up to the cross and hang it there instead.

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22).

The love verse.

It’s not just for our significant other. We love them for a reason. They were easy for us to love.

This verse is for everyone we come into contact with. It’s a guide on how to treat people. Treat people like Jesus did.

And Jesus loved.

“4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-8