"Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God's Sunrise will break in upon us...showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace." - Luke 1:78-79, The Message
I absolutely love this translation of this already beautiful verse from Luke. What a hope-filled and incredible reminder to us all as we walk toward a new year. I am thinking this will be my verse for the year ahead. When I've chosen a verse to live by before, I've always chosen something impossibly hard to live into or that caused more guilt than joy and hope. It is not that the verses themselves were impossible or unrealistic for my life, but I let them weigh me down instead of carry me forward. I think this one will serve to challenge and inspire me, helping me to press forward with hope and confidence. I am lacking in latter more often than I would like to admit.
I told my {incredible} husband that my new years resolution, however vague, is to live without fear. He told me he thought that was an excellent resolution and he would help and challenge me along the way. I added later that I want to live with steadfast hope and faith in the year ahead. I am sure the above verse will help me hold onto hope and breed confidence in God, in myself and just in general. I already feel hope and confidence welling up just thinking of it! I am excited about the possibilities of a life filled with more hope than fear, more confidence than doubt and more peace than discouragement.
I am certain that this path of hope and confidence will require a daily surrender on my part. I am ready for that. Perhaps part of my problem in the past has been wanting to be able to live into a verse immediately, instead of letting go and allowing myself to live into it a little more each day. And isn't that what life is anyway? A path we walk one foot at a time with hope and confidence because our merciful God goes with us, showing us the way down the path of peace and abundant life.
