| Stand with me for a minute at the local grocery checkout line and read a few titles on the January magazines. 2019 is YOUR Year! New Year, New You! Don’t Wait to Lose Weight! Why Put Off Feeling Good? Veggies You Must Eat, If You Want to be Petite! The last one is worse than waiting in a Walmart checkout line the day before Thanksgiving behind a person with a coupon organizer! #smh sunshine, I’m 5’7″. I weight 174 lbs. I will never be petite–nor do I want to be. I want to be strong, healthy, and empowered. Now for all of my petite friends out there, I love ya, and I am not burning you with, “I don’t want to be petite.” I do, however, want to be the person that God made me to be–in all of my fullness. And all for His glory. And this is my highest hope and prayer for you in 2019, too, sunshine. Yes, it’s a new year. And yes, there are things you want to improve and change. But new you?! You are His beloved. You’ve already been chosen. Accepted. Cherished. Adored. As is. “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” Eph 1:4 NLT He’s created you in His image and likeness, and with each waking moment, we are given opportunities to be more like Christ. So how about trying this one on for size,sunshine? Instead of attempting to be somebody new, how about transforming more into The One Who made you and into the person He already sanctified you to be? That seems a bit overwhelming, right? Start with some reflection and prayer time. Pray for God to open your heart, mind, and eyes to see which habits haven’t served your relationships, your health, your aspirations, etc…and which behaviors don’t align with the Holy Spirit’s presence in you. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” Ps. 139:23-24 NLT Ask to be made more into His image. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” Eph 5:2 Then surrender. Here’s to 2019, sunshine. A year of transformation. A year filled with more Jesus-like habits and behaviors. A year of impact. “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” John 3:30 NLT |
| P.S. I recently wrote a post on social media about how I don’t write New Year’s resolutions. If you haven’t had a chance yet, check it out on either Shine with Frannie’s Instagram or Facebook page let me know what awarenesses you discover from your trials and triumphs of 2018 and how you’ve been transformed. |