by Desiree Bustamante

What are you taking with you into this new year?

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

You might be taking a few extra pounds from the holidays into 2019. Perhaps you received an abundance of presents that you might be trying to find a place for in your home. Maybe you didn’t get to declutter your house as much as you wanted to last year, and space seems at a premium.

Maybe it’s not your home. Maybe it’s your mind or your heart. Worry creeps in and fills every corner. Worry that your dreams might not be fulfilled. Worry over some guilt you carry that needs forgiveness. Maybe you are grieving the loss of a loved one, a job or a strained relationship. You might be consumed with financial troubles or health problems. The emotions produced by these experiences can be quite overwhelming and the weight of them a huge burden to bear.

“Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 New International Version

God doesn’t want you to carry anything into this year but His love and peace and joy.

Sounds a little unrealistic when confronted with so many issues, doesn’t it? Yet we tell ourselves this year will be different. We try to change ourselves and even try to change others, but it never works. Only God can achieve true change. And He wants us to stop our interventions, step out of His way and give Him total and complete control over all of it. It’s not an easy task for us humans. God wants us only to carry hope in Him, a forgiven heart, His love, His peace and His joy into the days to come.

“For God, who said, ‘Let there be light in the darkness,’ has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.”
2 Corinthians 4:6-9 New Living Translation

Replace the heaviness in your heart with the light of God’s words. May God’s true peace be yours this year and for all your life.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado