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A New You in 2016

How to lose 15 pounds in January without even hitting the gym! Reorganizing your life, and the containers you MUST HAVE! How to be a better you in 2016.....

The list goes on and on and we are absolutely inundated with it. And you know what?! I tend to just nod in agreement and say, "Yes. I DO need a different body in 2016." Or "Yes. I DO need to reorganize my house." Or "Yes! I'm not good enough yet for 2016."

I was at a New Year's Eve party last night and I was feeling a little defeated. I hadn't yet purchased that gym membership (we laugh at those people who have to buy gym memberships as soon as January hits... but I'm being totally serious here)... I left my kitchen a complete disaster in order to make a perfect appetizer to share with our friends... pots everywhere, dishes piling high in the sink... Crafts all over the kitchen table... toys all over the living room floor...

And when I arrived at that party and slid through the door (hoping to remain unseen in all of my failure... arriving 38 minutes late as the perfect Italian Meatball Sliders weren't ready in time)... my body landed nearby my dear sweet friend, whom I greeted with a hug as she is the kind of person who makes you feel loved no matter what you look like or feel like. I asked her how her day was and she told me about shopping for her kids and a birthday coming up, and then she asked how my day was and... I was just honest.

"My day was kind of weird. I have just felt so overwhelmed today with my expectations for myself... like those meatballs over there, which almost didn't get finished.... I keep such HIGH expectations of myself and I get really down on myself when I don't meet these expectations.... So I've decided to just stop trying to attain these crazy expectations."

It felt good to say.. and she was probably one of the only people I would have been that honest with in that moment... I think we all need a friend like that. She just listened to what I had to say and didn't seem weirded out or shocked, or like I blurted out something ridiculous.

I don't think I realized what all my goals for the new year were doing to me until that very moment when I told my friend.

And then dinner was ready and my dear friend's husband prayed... and then it all came full circle.....

He prayed that we would long for Jesus in this new year and that we would see ourselves missing the mark and that it would bring us closer to Him.... or something like that.. but that was the gist anyways...

And all of the lightbulbs went on in my head! It was as if my friend's husband (who happens to be our friend as well... and really... happens to be our pastor) had listened in on the conversation I had just had with his wife (which I seriously doubt... he seemed pretty into his own conversations with the other husbands). All of my failures and failings whether my fault or of no fault of my own... everything that was weighing me down that day and that night as I walked into the party... it was to lead me back to the cross because the God who spoke the universe into existence... the God who saw His beloved creation failing and crumbling... He knew that we couldn't get it right... He knew that we would fail... And so He sent His son to pay our price... to bear our sin on the cross... to bear our burden. He took my place, and so believing in Him, He tells me my sins are gone... and all of my failings and shortcomings... His perfection has washed clean all of my imperfections.

And so all of my expectations of myself for 2016 that I had already made and had already failed before 2016 had even began... all of these things just lead me back to my blessed and beautiful redeemer, and the weight of that burden falls off... gone. Blessed be my Rock. Blessed be my redeemer.

Come Lord Jesus.

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