Photo creds: Browns & Heberts

~Happy New Year~ 

What is it that you kept meaning to get to last year but just didn’t? Feelings of failure? Wishing you were further along than you are? Tempted to give up already only 5 days into the new year? Hold up. Wait a minute. Put a little scripture in it! Corny I know. So laugh a little and check this out… 

Your future is bigger than your past. God is not interested in your past – what you didn’t get to or what you feel like you failed in. Listen, God’s into the here and now.  Isaiah 43:18-19 says it beautifully “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

And in case one verse isn’t enough, look at this one too.

Philippians 3:13 “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what is ahead”.

Of course, none of us have it all together even if things are going pretty well. So wether you have some things from last year or years past to let go of, even things you need to forget about, or if you are rockin along pretty great, here’s some wonderful  advise from a friend that is sure to help as you embark on the new year. 

If the tape recorder begins to play in your mind of a conversation that was not life giving or from a life event that you are having a hard time letting go of, here is the question to ask yourself and stop the recorder. “Is that thought helpful?” If it isn’t, then stop thinking it, literally forget about it as that verse commands us to do, and replace that thought with something totally different. My friend, Gina, has asked me that question several times when it was evident my thought processes were not helpful. It’s so imperative to have a good friend who will keep you accountable.

So this year, stop the “tape recorder” in your mind when it says things that are not helpful. But instead, strain forward to what is ahead and be ok with your not getting it perfect as you do so. Be prepared for critics who mean well. But keep straining forward ANYWAY even in your own inadequacies. You can do it! If God put it in your heart, He must approve and think you can do it no matter who else questions you. Be open though to learn as you go even from your critics. They may be saying things you need to hear. Hear people out when they point things out and learn and grow. But whatever you do, don’t become paralyzed due to not getting it exactly right. When you mess up, forget about it immediately and strain toward what’s ahead. You have permission from God on that! So go into this year literally forgetting about things that need to be forgotten and straining forward by faith toward what God has ahead for you.

More on how to be happy ANYWAY, how to not worry, to have a happy perspective, to be a happy wife or happily single, to be happy and healthy (without spending all your money at Walgreens) and how to get happy habits integrated into your life, grab a copy of Happy ANYWAY @happyanyway.org 😃 

Happy Monday, y’all!