It’s January 1, 2023! Does that get you excited or does it make you feel a little disappointed or sad? Maybe 2022 wasn’t what you had hoped or maybe it brought more pain and struggle than you anticipated. Perhaps some things changed for the better but some got much worse. Most years of our lives end up as a mixed bag of both I suppose.
I typically don’t love the whole New Years thing. We rarely go out and do much of anything and the whole experience feels like a let down of sorts. Another thing I really don’t like is resolutions, they feel like pre-meditated disappointments to me, probably because I’ve broken so many over my lifetime. However, I do like a plan, I like a new calendar and I like the idea of a fresh start. I was reading an article the other day and the writer talked about setting “God-centered goals” for the coming year and that got me excited.
A couple of months ago an idea started to form in my mind for this year of Scripture Journaling. As many of you know, last year we followed the liturgical year, which ended with the beginning of Advent. I liked that the plans fit together as a whole instead of just being a hodgepodge of topics and ideas. The interesting thing that happened for me over the course of last year was that while journaling the liturgical year I kept being reminded of the goodness of God. I kept finding comfort and calm in the enduring aspects of HIs character. In essence, I got to know Him better, and that gave way to the Big plan for this year.
For 2023 I would like you to join me on a journey to more deeply know the character of God. We will take one character trait a month and dive deep! My hope is that by this time next year we will be more in love with Jesus, more full of trust in Him, more peace-filled amidst the storms of life, more joy filled, more unshakable in our faith, and more like Him in every way. My personal God-centered goal for 2023 is to radiate the love of Jesus in every area of my life and to boldly testify to what He’s done for me.
So to start it all off I want to focus on the immutability of God. That’s just a theological term for unchanging. At a time of year when we’re so tempted to want to change everything, our bodies, our homes, our habits, I want us to learn to take comfort in the fact that we serve a God who does not change. Maybe that doesn’t necessarily sound like a positive trait to you, maybe you have memories of someone who was rigid and unchanging and it was anything but good. To be unchangeable in the human sense is not a healthy or positive quality because we are fallen and prone to sin. But a perfect, gracious, loving, and holy God who doesn’t change-that is a blessing beyond measure. Why, because it means He doesn’t change His mind about me, or you. He won’t stop loving us because He’s changed His mind about us. In fact, He’s incapable of changing HIs mind because whatever He decides is perfect, and to change His mind would me that He was mistaken. And He’s never been mistaken about anything in the history of the world, especially you.
As always, I love to hear feedback from you and you are always welcome to share these plans with friends and family. I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to do this every month and I love each one of you for following along.
Happiest New Year to you,
Susie
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