Can you see it? It’s right in front of you. What is it? It is a blank slate, brand new, just waiting to be filled in! Where is it? You must search for it, search for it with all your heart. Search for it like a lost treasure.
“I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.
"When you call me and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. When you search for Me, yes, search for me with all your heart, you will find me.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13CEB
I love new journals, new books, new clothes, new shoes, and a sunrise. I love mornings because they are new, another chance to do better than the day before. I love the opportunity for things untouched and unventured. I love a new year, this new year, 2020, even sounds clearer, like perfect vision.
What will it bring us, what joys and sorrows await to fill our blank slate? How will we respond to the experiences that will fill our days? This is our opportunity to do better, to polish our fruit so to speak.
God is present, all the time. He is powerful, all the time. He knows everything, all the time. If we search for the One who is all that in all our days, we can trust that our plans will be good even when they seem not to be. Our vision need not become clouded even when the sky is gray and stormy. If our vision is 2020 perfect, then we see life through the lens of perfection, it becomes our choice. We can take off the glasses that are all scratched with worry, doubt, ungratefulness, and fear and replace them with the clear 2020 vision of restored eyes, the eyes with perfect vision. The vision that sees the way that God sees… because when we search for God with all our hearts, our relationship with Him will strengthen and we will hear Him clearer, see Him clearer, and respond more like Him in our day-to-day lives. The old saying is true… we become like those we hang with.
Jeremiah, who wrote this verse, was known as the “weeping prophet”. His life was not perfect, yet he knew that God’s plans for him were for good and to prosper him. He looked through the lens of the God that he served and not the lens of his circumstances; it is through this lens that we see 2020 clear.
I will quote from a very wise woman, who happens to be my daughter:
“In life, we are guaranteed to see and experience two things every day; 1) good things and 2) not so good things. The key is the lens through which we look at these situations. Use the lens that focuses on the not so good and life seems not so good. Use the lens that focuses on the good and suddenly life becomes a joyous journey filled with gratitude and appreciation with each step we take. The truth is, across boundaries, cultures, and races, every one of us has a multitude of things to be grateful for. Some of us just forget to look through the right lens.”
This New Year, we have a clean slate… what lens will we choose to look through, the scratched up old lens or the brand-new lens.
#2020 folks… #clean slate… #your choice… #scratched up lens or 2020 perfection…
Be Encouraged,
Pastor Cheryl
“I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope.
"When you call me and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. When you search for Me, yes, search for me with all your heart, you will find me.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13CEB
I love new journals, new books, new clothes, new shoes, and a sunrise. I love mornings because they are new, another chance to do better than the day before. I love the opportunity for things untouched and unventured. I love a new year, this new year, 2020, even sounds clearer, like perfect vision.
What will it bring us, what joys and sorrows await to fill our blank slate? How will we respond to the experiences that will fill our days? This is our opportunity to do better, to polish our fruit so to speak.
God is present, all the time. He is powerful, all the time. He knows everything, all the time. If we search for the One who is all that in all our days, we can trust that our plans will be good even when they seem not to be. Our vision need not become clouded even when the sky is gray and stormy. If our vision is 2020 perfect, then we see life through the lens of perfection, it becomes our choice. We can take off the glasses that are all scratched with worry, doubt, ungratefulness, and fear and replace them with the clear 2020 vision of restored eyes, the eyes with perfect vision. The vision that sees the way that God sees… because when we search for God with all our hearts, our relationship with Him will strengthen and we will hear Him clearer, see Him clearer, and respond more like Him in our day-to-day lives. The old saying is true… we become like those we hang with.
Jeremiah, who wrote this verse, was known as the “weeping prophet”. His life was not perfect, yet he knew that God’s plans for him were for good and to prosper him. He looked through the lens of the God that he served and not the lens of his circumstances; it is through this lens that we see 2020 clear.
I will quote from a very wise woman, who happens to be my daughter:
“In life, we are guaranteed to see and experience two things every day; 1) good things and 2) not so good things. The key is the lens through which we look at these situations. Use the lens that focuses on the not so good and life seems not so good. Use the lens that focuses on the good and suddenly life becomes a joyous journey filled with gratitude and appreciation with each step we take. The truth is, across boundaries, cultures, and races, every one of us has a multitude of things to be grateful for. Some of us just forget to look through the right lens.”
This New Year, we have a clean slate… what lens will we choose to look through, the scratched up old lens or the brand-new lens.
#2020 folks… #clean slate… #your choice… #scratched up lens or 2020 perfection…
Be Encouraged,
Pastor Cheryl
