Because of the LORD’s loving devotion we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness! Lamentations 3:22-23

Each year we yearn to start life afresh. And yet, if we’ve lived a while, we know that the reality of life is that our futures will be a mixture of both good and bad.   I loved the hand-written prayer that my friend, Christi, found in her mother’s Bible, after her mom had passed on to heaven:

O God, full of surprises,
Deepen our wisdom,
that we accept life
when it comes in paradoxes like
sun and rain, storm and calm
pain and joy, defeat and victory
and life and death.
So keep us able when life wears many faces.  Amen

Follower of Jesus, we can embrace life as it is, because He has promised to make us able.  In all the paradoxes of life, God says that He is lovingly devoted to us, His compassion for us will never fail, and there is fresh mercy awaiting us each morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).  If you don’t have relationship with God through the person and work of Jesus, He holds out forgiveness and rescue from judgement to you.  He offers fellowship and new life, out of which you can navigate the future.

We will travel through much in our days.  Those ahead of us, who have walked all the way home with Jesus, like Christi’s mom and one of my heroes, Elisabeth Eliot, remind us of this: “It is God to whom and with whom we travel, and while he is the end of our journey, he is also at every stopping place.”[1]

 

Resource Reading: 1 John 2:1-17

[1] McDaniel, D. (2015, June 17). 40 inspiring quotes from Elisabeth Elliot. Crosswalk.com. Retrieved December 21, 2021, from https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/inspiring-quotes/40-inspiring-quotes-from-elisabeth-elliot.html