Happy 2019, everyone!  I don’t know about you, but in this household, not one black eye pea, collard or slice of cornbread was consumed; clothes were washed; the floor swept; and (gasp!) the Christmas décor left untouched.  If you live in or near the South at all, you know this should be a recipe for a disastrous year.  Thankfully, I’m not the least bit superstitious.  And if history repeats itself, my least eventful New Year’s Eves and Days result in some of my best years.  In the spirit of bucking tradition, I chose two words for this year.  In recent years, I’ve laid off the “New Year’s Resolutions” (which usually result in feeling like a failure anyway) and opted for a word instead to focus on and set as my main goal.  This year, I felt led to choose two simple words: “But God”.

2018 seemed to be my year of panic attacks.  Like the kind where I felt like I was probably dying.  No particular trigger, without warning, sometimes even while just laying in bed at night. (always fun)  So it’s definitely been in my head wondering what 2019 holds.  Several things hang over me as possibilities of things that can/will most likely happen this year, and I can panic just thinking about them.  But God.  Those two simple words offer such HOPE.

If nothing goes according to plan this year, if the bottom drops out, if panic seizes me daily, if the absolute worst happens….But God.

He is SO much greater than anything I can or cannot do.  I want every fear, every single doubt of mine to be immediately followed by “but God”.

My encouragement to you as we begin this year is to know that the same God that created the universe so long ago is the same God here in 2019.  There is NOTHING, not one single thing, that is going to happen this year without His knowledge.  I know 2018 for many of you was awful and you cannot imagine facing this year.  Know that it’s not hopeless.  This world is full of sin and hopelessness, BUT GOD is a God of hope and grace.  He has already gone before us and nothing catches Him by surprise.  He loves us at our worst.

2019 is a book yet to be written.  I pray that no matter what, we experience the all-consuming grace and love of Christ.

“My heart and my flesh may fail, BUT GOD is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26