{Be Encouraged} Welcome to a new day

Life can be so overwhelming and the pressure to be “good enough” can almost make you crazy at times. Yesterday I was overwhelmed, tired and just down right grumpy. There was nothing to blame for all of this except for my procrastination, lack of taking proper time to rest in the Lord and a naturally prideful heart. I can sometimes tend towards being a bit of a perfectionist and if I cannot do something perfectly, I rarely try at all…this week was full of days where I let myself down and wasn’t as “perfect” as I had told myself that I needed to be. My heart was so overwhelmed and I had a choice to make. I could either sit and wallow in my failure or I could trust that God’s word is true and focus on what God had to teach me. Thankfully, I decided to spend some time reading the word of God and these verses stuck out to me –

 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23

For a few minutes I just sat in awe of what I had read. His mercies NEVER come to and end and they NEVER grow old. They are new EVERY single morning! How can you keep from being refreshed and encouraged by the fact that the creator of the universe never runs out of mercy to extend without bounds? Who am I that God would choose to show me grace and love when I don’t even know how to extend that to myself? I decided right then and there that from now on I am going to focus on the new day and not dwell on the old. God does not lavish his grace on us that we might wallow in our failures. He hands us freedom from shame and an opportunity to walk in mercy and grace in the light of each and every new day. When I allow my heart to be fixated on these things there really is no way to escape the great faithfulness of our God.

This week I want to challenge you to look forward to the new days and leave the shame and guilt in the past. Choose to focus on the truth of who God created you to be and leave the rest up to Him. His mercy is new every morning – welcome to a new day!