We’re just over two weeks into the new year! Have you made any resolutions? If so, are you still keeping them?

I used to make New Year’s Resolutions. But, like many, they were usually broken within a few weeks’ time. Losing weight, being more consistent in certain areas of my life, living a more balanced life…and then inevitably, life intervened!

We’ve had lots of intervening issues in 2020, and I’ve written about many of them. But right now Don and I have two neighbors (on either side of us) dealing with terminal cancers; a friend in a difficult marriage; a niece struggling with an ongoing illness and Covid, surgeries, isolation, more friends and/or church members dealing with Covid, either illness or death of a loved one, etc. etc. etc. I imagine you face similar concerns.

So I’ve been trying to think of my word for this year. God brought us through last year’s global pandemic (still ongoing), the loss of my mother, national disunity and natural disasters (fires, floods). By His grace, my trust has grown. There’s an old hymn whose chorus says:

“Where could I go, oh where could I go,

Seeking a refuge for my soul,

Needing a friend to help me ’til the end.

Where could I go but to the Lord?”

Written in 1940 by James Buchanan (J.B.) Coats

Coats was an American. World War II began in 1939 and the world was in turmoil. America joined the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. J.B. knew that stability was not to be found anywhere but in God’s love and sovereignty.

We’re in a small group studying Max Lucado’s book, ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING. Lucado says,

“Do not assume God is watching from a distance. Avoid the quicksand that bears the marker ‘God has left you!’ Do not indulge this lie. If you do, your problem will be amplified by a sense of loneliness. Isolation creates a downward cycle of fret. Choose instead to be the person who clutches the presence of God with both hands.”

Anxious for Nothing, Max Lucado, p 70

When I look at who God is, at His sovereignty over everything in this world, I feel more at peace than if I just look at the circumstances around me. He knows exactly what is happening in this world He created.

“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”

Colossians 1:16

And He knows my needs. He knows my past, present and future. And He will be with me each step of the journey.

So I think my word for this year is SOVEREIGNTY, a word to remind me of His power, wisdom, and love. Nothing slips by Him unnoticed. He is my God, my salvation through Jesus. Even when I don’t understand what He allows, I can trust His loving heart.

Have you chosen a word for this year? How will you remind yourself of it day to day? I leave you with this blessing from Numbers 6:24-26.