This year is going to end. We pause, look back at the past and think about good resolutions and plans for the new year.
If we look back on the old year, it must have been an extraordinary year for most of us. It was associated with new challenges, difficulties, changes, limitations and insecurities. Much of what we took for granted was no longer possible.
I also asked myself :
What can I be thankful for?
What was good? What challenges did I have to face?
What does God want to show me?
What was I happy about?
What made me sad?
Which changes have there been?
What has become important to me?
Where did I grow, what did I learn?
What must I learn?
What do I plan for the coming year?
What goals do I want to achieve and implement?
What wishes and visions do I have?
What plan does God have for my life?
Looking back on the past year, through all circumstances, there was one constant for me, one security, one unshakable truth:
“Immanuel, God is with us”
God was with me in all challenges, difficulties, changes, limitations and insecurities. God was with me in joy and sorrow. God was with me in my success and in my failure. God was with me in my wishes, visions and plans. God was there always and everywhere and so it was a good year for me. To look to Jesus, to look to him in all things, has filled my heart with peace, a supernatural peace that the world does not know.
“Don’t worry about anything, just pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him. You will experience God’s peace, which is greater than our human minds can ever comprehend. His peace will keep your hearts and minds in faith in Jesus Christ ”Philippians 4: 6-7
Thankful for his love and loyalty, his guidance, I want to go into the new year.
“Praise the Lord, my soul, and do not forget what good he has done you” Psalm 103: 2
Trusting in Jesus I can look to the future with hope and confidence and use my time wisely for everything that is really important. The past year also offered the opportunity to reflect on it and to realign our own priorities.
“Love God and your neighbor as yourself” Matthew 22, 37-39
“Seek first after the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and everything else will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33
I wish you all a blessed new year with confidence in God, hope, faith, gratitude and with his peace in heart.
There are numerous guides, magazines, and books in which you can find tips for a happy and content life. Many authors and scientists deal with this topic and have already gained a lot of important knowledge about it.
Satisfaction, gratitude, family, social contacts, exercise, healthy eating, etc. are all factors that can contribute to personal happiness. But I miss the most important point in this list: putting God first
Time with God, to meet him and to be connected with him makes us happy. This is what we were created for, the community and relationship with God our Creator is our purpose.
However, our everyday life is often overcrowded with duties, challenges, work, consumption, leisure time, shopping, personal hygiene, social and cultural activities, sport, visits to the doctor and much more, so that we can easily get into a daily grind. Always the same, day in, day out. In this routine we often do not take much time with God and can easily get into everyday stress. We are under time pressure, lots of errands, a mountain of laundry waiting for us, stress, anger, no time. In addition, volunteer positions, homework with the children and other things that can become a burden for us.
How can break this cycle?
I have discovered for myself that this routine, which leads to frustration and dissatisfaction, comes, when I forget one thing: to give God first place
If I just function , try to do everything on my own, just am in action and forget to recharge my batteries with my God, to let his love fill me, to take him into my everyday life, then my joy is lost.
It helps me to plan specific times with God, to start and end the day with God, to read the Bible, to hear songs of praise while doing housework, to take a walk with God or to soak up the sun for 10 minutes on the balcony during the lunch break Enjoy the silence. Talk to God, a prayer. God is never more than a thought away. There are many ways to be in touch with God.
“Think of him at every step; he shows you the right way ”Proverbs 3,6
There are often times when it is difficult to take your free time. For me, for example, that was the case during the apple harvest. From 5:30 in the morning to 9:00 in the evening, the program was full. Prepare breakfast for the harvest workers and prepare children for school, then go to the meadow, distribute lunch, cater for everyone in the evening and do the minimum works around the house. At 9:30 p.m. I went to bed tired, after reading 2 to 3 sentences in the Bible I was already deep asleep.
“He gives it to his own in their sleep.” Psalm 127: 2
But where I recharged the most strength and energy for each day during this time was in the thoughts, short prayers to God, just to be aware of his closeness and to take him with me everywhere. Even if there was no time for Bible reading, there was a lack of church services and fellowship in the house group, God was always with me and that was my happiness.
The more time I spend with God, the more balanced i am. God helps me to set priorities correctly, to distinguish the important from the unimportant, to realign myself internally, to eliminate time robbers and distractions again and again, to use my time correctly.
I have many plans, but often it is better to let God interrupt me, to listen to his guidance, to his voice.
Perhaps it is more important to visit someone today than to clean the windows.
Maybe today helping someone is more important than running my errands.
Maybe today it’s more important to listen to someone than to move on quickly so that my schedule doesn’t get mixed up.
Maybe today it is more important to take a walk than to iron my clothes.
“There is a time for everything and there is a time for every noble man under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3: 1
We worry about a lot, think about what there is to do , sometimes forgetting that God is by our side. With God in the boat, we won’t sink into a sea of worries so quickly. If we let him participate in our concerns, he takes all our worries away and gives us new strength and joy in everyday life. With God, even house cleaning is fun.
First seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Then he will provide you with everything else. Matthew 6:33
Happy the people whose God is the LORD! ” Psalm 144.15
Happy are those who live in your house. They will always praise you. Happy is the person whose strength is in you, who follows you from the heart. Psalm 84: 5-6
Happy is the man who does not listen to the advice of the wicked, who does not follow the example of sinners’ lives and does not mockers. With joy he does the will of the Lord [1] and ponders his law day and night. It is like a tree that has roots on the river bank and bears abundant fruit year after year. His leaves do not wither and everything he does succeeds in Psalm 1: 1-3
