10 Truths for New Year’s from Thailand

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New Year’s resolutions: claims we all make, whether we keep them for a day, a week, a year, or the rest of our lives. 

How strange to think that by simply choosing something better for ourselves and speaking about it in groups of friends and family we can change something. We can alter the directions of our lives and the nature of our personas so quickly. How truly strange it is to think that a countdown and a new digit at the end of a number mixed with a couple small hopes and dreams for something more can actually make a difference.

But is it that strange?

   

Are there things that can be changed on a dime? Yes, decisions can be made to better one’s health or spend more time with one’s family, and yes, they can be carried out to the end. But are there things that can be immediately made true? How about things already true but often forgotten? What if we stopped, looked in a mirror, and realized the truths we are made with? The truths about our appearances, purposes, and personalities. The things that make us who we are. The things God hard wired into us as creations. What if we accepted them?

What would you be? Or maybe a better question: what are you now that’s been shut up and buried by lies and degradation? By requirements and expectations for you to be something you are not created to be – something less than yourself? When did you decide God wanted you to settle for less? When did you decide to be content with mediocrity instead of overwhelmed by joy and confirmation in who you are in Christ? When did you surrender?

   

You’re more than that. You’re more than the limits of the world and the boundaries between nations. You’re more than the American dream. You’re more than the nine-to-five job. You’re more than just being okay. You’re more than what you have been convinced you are destined to be.

When will you win yourself back?

   

I won myself back tonight.

TEN.

I am a worship leader.

NINE.

I am not hopeless.

EIGHT.

I am not comparable to others – I am a unique creation.

SEVEN.

I have words that others listen to and benefit from.

SIX.

I am someone, and God uses me.

FIVE.

I will not succumb to lies. I am an ambassador of the truth.

FOUR.

I have no regrets, because God’s will is done despite my fears.

THREE.

My fears are none, because my father knows none.

TWO.

My past he has redeemed, and my future he has blessed.

ONE.

I am a son, and I am loved outrageously.

 

Happy New Year to all of you from Bangkok, Thailand. Make 2013 the year you win back your life and realize who God made you to be.