Reset & Remember
I have been trying to write this blog post for a while as I have been remembering God’s faithfulness throughout 2020. Honestly, I wait until the final hour to share what is on my mind. By that point, there are so many thoughts swirling in my head; I do not know where to start. How about with a simple word? Read on for my Word of the Year for 2021.
I have taken the last two weeks to reset and focus on what Jesus taught me in 2020 and where we are going in 2021.
Reset. A definition that means to adjust to things differently.
How do we reset? Where is our focus? Is it in the past – the disappointments and regrets even? Are you focused on things we would have done differently? Or are we looking ahead and focusing on all of the possibilities that wait for us in a new year?
365 days, 52 weeks, 12 months. – Each wait for us, having divine purpose.
I was recently having a conversation with a friend about my purpose on Earth. I began thinking, do we know what our specific purpose is? We are wired to understand why we do things. Ultimately, our overarching purpose of life on Earth is to live every moment to pursue Christ’s love, proclaim His extraordinary kindness, and fall in love with Him so that we shine His glory so all may see.
“Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” (Isaiah 43:6–7)
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31
In 2020, God called me into a deep conversation focusing on Him. He used the little book of Haggai to teach me about His undying desire for us to serve Him and bring Him glory.
If you have not spent time in Haggai, it is a great book that will take you only a few moments to read, but it took me an entire year to unpack. Yes, you read that right. I spent all year in Haggai.
God was asking me to FOCUS on Him all year, which is a powerful theme throughout Haggai. I found so many convicting and encouraging perspectives in those two chapters. God continues to draw us into Him, no matter how unfocused we become.
God calls us to not only put Him first in our lives but to focus on Him in every aspect of our day.
So that is why I reset. Remembering God’s faithfulness is how I choose to reset.
I reset to remember His faithfulness, which brings me to 2021—my year of remembrance. For me, I was called to create a posture of daily recalling everything God has done, said, taught, revealed – you name it – I am learning to remember it.
We are a forgetful people. I could go into this psychological theory called Trace Decay, in which we have to use a pathway in our brain or the memory decays. (I’m not a neurologist… but that is the gist)
Guys! We must remember. We cannot forget what God has done. Because when we forget God’s goodness and mercy – we complain about our circumstances. We believe this lie that we deserve better; we deserve God to show up in specific ways.
What a fallacy. We do not deserve a single drop of His kindness – yet over and over again, God desires a relationship with us, and He draws us back in.
Remembering God’s faithfulness is not just done by recalling events in our own lives but also through the edification of scripture. You are edified by scripture when you know it and live it out. Moreover, when you know scripture and ‘hide it in your heart,’ your faith is strengthened.
MY PRAYER FOR MY YEAR, AND YOURS, IS THAT WE WOULD REMEMBER THE GOODNESS OF OUR GOD. THAT WE WOULD STAND FIRM IN HIS SCRIPTURE THAT SAYS HE REIGNS OVER HEAVEN AND EARTH (PSALM 93), HE DESIRES TO DAILY RENEW HIS MERCY ON US (LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23), AND THAT GOD IS A JUST GOD AND LONGS TO HAVE COMPASSION ON US (ISAIAH 30:18). I PRAY WE ACT ON OUR WORD OF THE YEAR FOR 2021, AND REMEMBER IT EVERY SEASON.
But, we have so much to praise God for in our lives. We are on this Earth with a divine purpose. Do not waste your purpose and forget to focus on His goodness, remember – we do not deserve any of it, yet he continues to draw us in with compassion, mercy, and love.
