ROSCOMMON – Happy New Year from Bambi Lake! We anticipate 2023 being exciting as we witness God using Bambi Lake in amazing ways.
A new year for many of us often marks a “New Beginning”. An opportunity to rethink or re-tool our everyday life and our plans for the future. Maybe a new year sparks new dreams or prompts us to refresh old ones in a new way. However, as we approach this “New Beginning” it will most likely require a reboot to our thinking.
How we view our finances, our health, our relationships, our family - we must look at these through different lenses. I recently had to start taking diabetes medicine and taking an insulin shot every morning because I have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Honestly this diagnosis made me angry because in my mind only unhealthy eating and obesity causes diabetes.
Obviously, this thinking was incorrect because I am neither of those two. For some time I had begun feeling slow, lethargic and my eyesight was blurry at times, and I knew something was amiss, but I didn’t want to admit I was sick. Nevertheless, I finally went to the doctor.
Making the decision to go to the doctor and be examined required a new mindset. I had to acknowledge my body was not functioning properly, and decide this was no longer acceptable. As silly as it may seem, this required admitting I was getting older, needed to go to the doctor, probably having to take pills (one more thing to remember), paying for something I don’t want, etc, etc….
Nevertheless, I decided my need was greater than my pride. This was my “New Beginning” moment that ushered in a new reality. Which brings me to this question - Is pride keeping you from a “New Beginning”? Is pride keeping you from a “New Reality”?
I have no way of knowing the area of life that you desire a “New Beginning”, but allow me to encourage you with this thought, this reality - “Grace Has Overcome!”. Grace wins!
What a liberating and life altering reality to live in! However, it requires a new mindset. It requires surrender. Humility is the key that unlocks this “New Beginning” in our lives. We have to acknowledge our insufficient strength and resources to handle life on our own. Only by completely surrendering and relying on the work of God’s grace can we truly have a “New Beginning” in any area of our life.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8 (ESV).
Grace saved you, let it change you! Let it permeate every breathing moment of your existence. Choose a “New Beginning” with grace. Live in the reality that your striving is insufficient, BUT His grace is sufficient!
My only hope is in the cross, my Savior died, He paid my cost
A slave to sin my soul in chains, until His grace, flowed down like rain
Amazing grace how sweet the sound, when Your grace like rain comes flowing down,
It’s a beautiful sound!
Your Grace, Your Grace has overcome, overcome!
Your Grace, Your Grace the battle won, the battle won!
Forgiven I stand in victory, for the glory, of my Savior King,
Your Grace has overcome!
(Grace Has Overcome-Michael Schatz)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mick Schatz serves on the staff of the Baptist State Convention of Michigan. He is the State Director of Spiritual Enrichment and Retreats and lives at Bambi Lake.