How to Make the New Year JOY Filled, No Matter the Happenings
By now we are two weeks into the New Year, and I don't know if you're like me but I've already broken my New Years resolution. I was going to go a month without bread because it is my sweet. I wanted to be a good example to my husband who struggles to give up his sweets and let him see self-discipline in action. Ha!
By about five days into the year, I was chowing down on a nice fresh piece of sour dough bread smothered with homemade raspberry jam, and he was well into a box of chocolates. We laughed at each other as we settled back into our easy chairs for our favourite TV show.
How willing the mind is making these plans on New Year's Eve after gorging on appies to the point of feeling uncomfortable, but how weak the body when day one, day two, day three rolls by, without the comforts.
I could end the message right here by saying don't make New Year's resolution and just be happy, but there is a deeper message here in my transparency of failure.
As you know, the names and titles of God are my passion because they are windows into His character and goodness. With a new year blossoming I thought it would be appropriate to write about how God is referred to in Scripture as "our Help" or "our Helper." Is this technically a name of God, as in a capitalized name of God, no, but it a characteristic so comforting, and so necessary to believe, that it is worthy of reflection.
Did I ask God my helper, to help me not eat bread for a month? Did I even ask Him if He wanted me to undertake this discipline? No. Is it any wonder that I was eating bread in five short days. No.
- Psalm 46:1 says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
- Hebrews 13:5&6 says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you, so we may boldly say: The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
You may be starting the year with real problems: a money shortage, health restrictions, marriage struggles, loneliness, family dynamics that are cruel, you can't find work, and the list goes on. But for believers in Jesus Christ, with the LORD our God ever at our side, we are not alone, nor left to our own resources to figure life out.
I personally, am going through some major struggles, and I don't just mean not being able to have my sour dough bread and jam, I am talking big things, life changing things, and yet I have a depth of peace I've never had before. Why? Because I truly believe God is my source of strength and help. I am not alone.
So, I enter this new year with hope, with help, with My Helper and JOY fills the crevices and cracks keeping back the fear and the wily lies of the enemy. God does not promise only good happenings so we can remain perpetually happy. But what He does promise to be our refuge, our strength, a very present HELP when things are tough.
Hang on to that promise. These words of Scripture are not just words … they are a promise to every child of God, and you are His precious child. Join me in crying out to the God of our Help.
Listen to this amazing song by Plumb called "God Help Me."
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About the author
Blossom Turner is an award-winning novelist, and a free-lance writer published in Chicken Soup and Kernels of Hope anthologies, and former newspaper columnist on health and fitness. A Word Guild semi-finalist for Anna's Secret, Katherine's Arrangement, Amelia’s Heartsong, and a Word Guild winner for Best Romance for Lucinda’s Defender. She has found her home in the writing of historical fiction but is open to wherever God leads. The many 5-star reviews attest to the power of love and romance authentically woven into the Shenandoah Bride Series about five sisters and their five love stories.
Blossom lives in British Columbia, Canada, with her husband, David, of forty years and their dog Lacey named after Lacey Spring, Virginia, where this series takes place. A former businesswoman, personal trainer, and mother of two grown children she is now pursuing her lifelong dream of writing full-time. A hopeless romantic at heart, she believes all story should give the reader significant entertainment value. However, her writing embodies the struggles of real life. She infuses the reality of suffering with the hope of Christ to give a healthy dose of relatable encouragement to her reader. Her desire is to leave the reader with a yearning to live for Christ on a deeper level, or at the very least, create a hunger to seek for more.
Co-author Suzie Zanewhich
Suzie is a certified life coach, leader of emotional health, and resource specialist. She has found her niche as a soul coach.
Suzie finds purpose in empowering individuals to move towards growth, healing, and alignment with their authentic self. Suzie is driven by a calling to live authentically, as the person God created her to be, to reach her fullest potential and lead others to do the same. Her passion is to help others find meaning through discovering their strengths, gifts, personality, temperament and core values.
Suzie is a life-long learner, continuously immersing herself in new courses to learn more about human behaviour, relationships, psychology, child development, emotions, trauma and healing. Because of her craving to always learn more she has earned the title of resource specialist in the area of self-discovery.
Suzie Zanewich lives with her husband in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She has a patchwork family of four grown children, two daughters, two sons and three granddaughters.
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