Twanna sits down and reflects on 2023 while discussing what scripture will be encouraging her outlook as she enters into the new year.

0:10 Introduction to the show

1:36 Psalms 37’s directives for the new year

3:09 Trusting in God and letting go of worry 

4:46 Humility, prosperity and peace in the new year

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When entering a new year, I always find it's helpful to evaluate where I am in various areas of my life — of course, spiritually, but also relationally, emotionally, and physically. So on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being "I could do a whole lot better" to 10 being that "I have the sweeping victory," realistically what's going on and where am I really? Of course we can always look to scripture for direction, and we should look to scripture for direction. So, let's take a few moments and do just that.

There is a psalm that you might not think is a New Year's scripture, but as I read it more and more, it gives so much direction and guidance, I believe, for the new year. The psalm is Psalm 37. The psalm addresses the security of those who trust in the Lord. And I tell you, I'm so glad that there is security when we trust in Him. Because truthfully, sometimes we have to remind ourselves of this, because life can get very wonky. And we can have questions such as, "did I hear God?" or "am I doing what he told me to do?" and "why is everyone else not with the program?" So when we look at Psalm 37, believe it or not, there are probably 17 directives for the new year, just in this one psalm. Now, I won't go through all of them, but I really want to highlight some of the verses. It begins in verse 1 with, "Do not worry because of evildoers." Wow, we can really stop right there. We can easily make verse 1 our new year verse. "Do not worry." Because sometimes we can really get lost in worrying about things that we have no control over and people we have no control over. So maybe our prayer for this year starts there. "Lord help me to not be a worrywart. Help me to stop stressing over things that are outside of my control and people who I cannot control." Now just saying that is freeing, amen? So, the solution to not worrying is in verse 3. Here's what it says. It says to trust or rely on and have confidence in the Lord, and do good. Question: why is this so hard? Well, I believe, because oftentimes, we're looking at things in the natural that don't always add up. But trusting in the Lord is so important that the psalmist says it again in verse 5, "trust in Him also." So let's pause right there.