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How to have a truly happy new year.

For the first time in years, I don’t remember my New Year’s resolution from January. Usually, I write it down in my journal or on a note I stick to my mirror. There’s been many of those dog-eared sticky notes from years past. The year of contentment. Speaking life. We passed pancakes across the breakfast table on January 1st this year. “What do you want from 2018?” I can’t remember my answer. I know what I didn’t want though. I didn’t want to walk into her office and share the parts of my life I’m inclined to hide. I didn’t want to Facetime her the day after she delivered her baby that never breathed. I didn’t want to spend four months wondering how I’d walk into her house on Christmas day and see her empty chair. I didn’t want to go on another first date that led nowhere. We sit across from each other in a little coffee shop in Colorado, picking at a charcuterie board. “When I think about all of the things I have left to go through,” her voice cracks....
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Turn on the Light Switch and Watch the Darkness Hide

(Re-posting: it's been a wild week, so I'm pasting an old post on here for momentum. As always, I pray this encourages.)

I was a wide-eyed seven-year-old, wondering if that shadowy form crammed in the corner between the walls of my bedroom and my armoire was an orc from the animated Lord of the Rings movie. I began to reason that, since I was on the top bunk, no evil monster or kidnapper would be able to reach me. I sank into my pillows and pulled my comforter up to my chin.
            
I am a wide-eyed twenty-year-old, wondering what monsters are trying to coax me into the slough of despond. I trace the form of each brute. Discouragement injects a sentence someone told me last week into my brain over and over again. Fear has got its hands on my throat, trying to strangle Life out of each moment. Condemnation grips my hair and pushes my head down, giving me a view of the ground and not the sun, the birds, the other people. Shame, Regret, Pride. They stand in line, make up an army.
            
I begin to reason that if I stay tucked into the hands of God, they will not be able to reach me.

 “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.” Psalm 91:3-6       

No monster has long enough arms to touch you when you’re covered by the wings of God. The Devil’s only weapon is smoke and mirrors. Turn on the light switch and see your Enemy in true form. A skeleton with wobbly knees, falling at the feet of Jesus. Embrace joy, peace, and strength because you can. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

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