Move Forward Every Single Day
1. “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Cor. 5:17)
I love the word begin. It speaks to something new, moving forward, taking the next step. Plant joy in your heart. You get to start again . . . and again . . . and again.
Now, let’s deal with the labels you’ve worn. How do you believe others see you? Are you
a single mom?
a divorced dad?
one who had an affair?
an alcoholic?
fat?
rejected?
a financial failure?
in a mess?
a Sunday-only Christian?
an “it’s all about me” friend?
Whatever labels you have worn until this point, are you willing to let them go? Are you ready to identify yourself in Christ? Declare these truths over your life:
I am an overcomer.
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
I am part of heaven’s royal family.
I am a new creation.
I have a future and a hope.
Just as I am, right now, I am completely loved by God.
2. Do you realize that before you were even born God knew and loved you? This is what David writes:
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
you are still with me! (Ps. 139:13–18)
Meditate on these verses. Every single day of your life before you took your first breath, God knew and loved you. Find the youngest photo of yourself you can find. If you don’t have baby photos then write down in your journal the day you were born and then write beside it, “I was known and loved before this.”
The great hope for moving forward is this: If you have a pulse, as long as there’s not a white chalk mark around your body, it’s never too late to start again . . . and again.