Penned 1/14/2021

How to Get Your New Year Out of the Toilet!

“If you don’t see the images on a screen because people block your view, it is easier to adjust your sitting position than to call for an adjustment of the screen! You need to change yourself!”― Israelmore Ayivor

Perhaps you joined in with the millions  of people who said, “I can’t wait for 2020 to be behind me!” You held on, believing that when the clock struck midnight ushering in the new year, there would be a shift. And things did shift… seemingly right into the toilet.

Covid didn’t magically go away, in fact some of the numbers went up. You still had to wear a mask. Political upheaval was at fever pitch. Stuff has happened we never imagined seeing in our lifetime. Many friends and family were still at odds with one another over current events. In the midst of it, you found yourself overwhelmed with disappointment, and maybe even feeling hopeless.

Take heart. You can have a better year this year than last. You can get your new year out of the toilet.

Last spring when we experienced the restrictions due to Covid, I went to my hairdresser and told her to chop off my long hair. I didn’t hate my hair. I wasn’t getting sick of it. Truth be told, I just wanted to control something! 

I’m not encouraging women who read this to run out and chop their hair off. You might actually hate the outcome. So please, don’t do anything crazy. But here’s my point…change happens in you when you decide it will. You may not be able to control a virus that has plagued the world. You may not be able to change what’s going on politically. But one thing you can change is you.  And you can do it right now. This second. You hold all the power to do that.  No one can stop you.

Right this moment you can go all in, with God.

Right this moment, you can do something bold you have never done before, like walk up to a total stranger and give them a word of hope.

Right at this moment you can stop that nasty habit you have.

Right at this moment you can start using a gift God has given you that has laid dormant.

Right at this moment you can stop wallowing in what you can’t do and start reveling in what you can do.

You don’t need permission from the president, the CDC, your boss or anyone else in your life to make changes in YOU.

Steve Mariboli says, ““Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.”

So what are you waiting for?

Change in your inner world starts when you say it does. You really do hold the power. Consider this…God wants to change you from the inside out, but it doesn’t happen until you cooperate with Him. The moment you decide to move with His plan, there’s a shift in your world. A better new year happens for you because you decided it would. You changed what you could.

Right now you can put off your old self and put on the new. 

“…Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-24

God gives you the choice and the power to put off your old self.

He gives you the opportunity to be renewed.   

It’s your choice.

Deanna Shrodes

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