As this year ends and a new year begins, I sit at my computer with fingers ready to type, but speechless, my brain in a fog. How do I ring in the New Year when stories of tragedy and heartache of people near and far are still ringing in my ears? I had to walk away from my computer. While many are celebrating New Year’s resolutions and looking forward to new rhythms or plans, others are wading through new rhythms of pain and heartbreak. Pain that is life-altering. Pain that, for now, might seem hopeless. It really put a heaviness in my heart as I looked ahead to the New Year.
Having experienced some of my own life-altering situations, I sometimes look at the New Year a little differently than my typically whimsical personality. In fact, Fear often takes a leading role in my soul right after celebrating the Hope of the world at Christmastime. Odd, right? But for the past several years, I have found myself in the same position and contemplating the same question leading up to New Year’s Day – What’s going to happen this year?
A few days before sitting down to write, I was talking with my husband and I told him, “I could just make a whole list of fears.” Ever calm he replied, “You should. Then pair it with Truth.” Feeling a little indignant that my fears might not fit that mold, I started spouting them off, my biggest fear first. Immediately God put Truth in my mind, and I stopped right there. Many of the things that I fear, I have little to no control over. And yet there they are, invading my thoughts, my actions, my life.
As the New Year begins, I know there are varying emotions. Some are excited, some indifferent, and some, like me, fearful of what it might bring. Regardless of which emotion you bring to the New Year, there is only one constant that can anchor us, and that is the Resurrection Hope that we find through a relationship with Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Do you have this hope? Are you living out this hope? The knot in my stomach and my fearful thoughts on replay certainly were not a testament to this hope. As my husband reminded me earlier, I needed to pair, or anchor, myself with Truth to stand firm against my fearful thoughts. While I know this, I needed a reset.
Isaiah 41:10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.
Ironically, that’s often what we do each New Year, reset our bodies and minds through goals and rhythms. But while healthy eating, exercise, and positive thinking could help my physical body reset, there was one reset that I needed even more, anchoring my soul in Resurrection Hope.
Hebrews 6:19a We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
What?! I thought I was doing that! How quickly it was for me to fall off track and lose sight of Hope! Mental overload? My mind starts slipping. An illness that interrupts routine and lasts longer than expected? Rhythms are gone. Fears that become fixations? Watch out!
It became evident that the reset I needed was less about resetting my global vision of Resurrection Hope (I had that!) and more about resetting my rhythms of “daily bread” that feed into Resurrection Hope. More clearly put, I needed to get back in the Word.
John 6:27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”
John 6:35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.”
When all rhythms and routines are a GO at our house, one “daily bread” thing we do is Speaking and Praying Scripture. This typically consists of three verses that I choose for the month and then a prayer that I write to correspond with the scripture. Together we speak through each scripture two times and then someone reads the prayer out loud. It is a small routine, typically done in the car on the way to school (hence a broken routine since school was out for winter break). Speaking and Praying Scripture has helped our family connect scripture to our hearts and minds and has often redirected my own heart in many needed areas. It is also a way for us to pray God’s Word, hide God’s Word in our hearts, and allow the Word of God to come alive in our everyday moments. And let’s face it, we all need more of Jesus in our everyday moments.
But to truly stand firm in Hope and to not let fear take root in my soul, I needed more than just speaking and praying scriptures once a day. I needed to reset my daily rhythm of my own personal feasting with the Bread of Life, Jesus. I know in my own life this opportunity for personal feasting has gone through many seasons. Some flourished, some were droughts, and some bore growth, but consistency was lacking. Be it life situations, ignorance, passivity, confusion, or more, I have been there. But my soul has been awakened to realizing how crucial it is for us to spend time in God’s Word, and I want to bring you along with me.
I also understand that this rhythm of feasting with God is a personal one between you and Him. Please take comfort knowing that He knows your life, your season, your abilities, and your time, and you are free to shake off chains of comparison and let the LORD lead you personally in this area. With that, I would also like to offer you some gentle nudging to create those rhythms that will lead to Life and Hope. Even if they are small. Even if they start with crumbs.
Are you hungry for the bread of life?
Are your rhythms lacking and does your soul need to be anchored in Resurrection Hope?
I encourage you to join us this year in both Speaking and Praying Scripture as well as establishing a rhythm of “daily bread” in the Word of God. The more you feast on God’s Word, the more you will understand that with Him we are Not Alone, and in Him, we have Resurrection Hope. See you around in 2026!
Revelation 21:6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.”
Speaking and Praying Scripture – JANUARY
Isaiah 41:10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you, I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.
Hebrews 6:19a We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
Revelation 21:6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.”
PRAYER:
Dear God, You are a good, good Father who loves us so much. Thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins so that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is LORD and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved (Romans 10:9).
God, when we feel fearful remind us that we are Not Alone with you. Strengthen us when we need to stand firm in Truth and hold on to us with your righteous right hand.
Thank you for the Resurrection Hope we have in You helping us to be firm and secure in an ever-changing world.
God, you ARE the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I pray that we always hunger and thirst for you, knowing that you freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
NOT ALONE MINISTRIES 