Well, happy new year and welcome back to another podcast of Struggling Well. we've turned into to 2024. I don't know about you, 2023 is a year I was just happy to get out of. It's been a hard year from the beginning to the end. And lots of things that were beyond our control, my control, that didn't go the way I would have written the script, but they went the way God wrote the script. And so I'm trying my best to look at the year not as a lost year, but as a year that I've had to learn some things about my walk with Christ that otherwise probably wouldn't have had to learn. And so we come into 2024 and I know that there's a lot of you out there who have already sat down and scribbled out on a piece of paper or on your notes section of your little phone your New Year's resolutions. And I don't do New Year's resolutions because why bother? I'm not going to keep them anyway. It's just one of those things we tend to do. But what Suzi and I do every year is we pick a verse of scripture that we're going to hang on to for that given year. And again, Suzi is not with us today, but Tim Briggs is here and I'm not going to put him on the spot for what his verse is for this year. But as I was thinking about it, it was in 2021. So, you can kind of remember back 2021, we were still sort of in the throws of a pandemic and people were like freaking out over this whatever it was. and the verse we chosen in 20 in January of 2021 was in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And if you've listened to this podcast at all, you know that 2 Corinthians is one of the books that is a favorite of ours because it's Paul's I think autobiography about life and what his life was like. And it's not all sunshine and roses. And so in chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians, he says this. So we do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction, meaning life, is preparing us for eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. And it meant a lot to us in the year 2021. And I and we won't choose the same verse again. And this year, we still have to do that and we'll fill you in when we do. but I love that sentiment. Don't lose heart. And it's the reality that things in this life, things that I can see, things that I can touch, from relationships to possessions to health, they're all transient. They're all going to pass away. But what is unseen is eternal. And that's what I want to cling to, hang on to help me lo loose heart. So Tim Briggs, you want to weigh in on that one?
Well, I would just say the changing of the year is a good time for us to reflect back and to look forward.
And I would suspect that most of our New Year's resolutions, if you're one to make those, have to do with things that were seen that you didn't like.
Yeah.
That you experienced in a hard way. I mean, you talked about. I'm looking at Jimmy's Bible. It says January 2021 right next to that passage. There's a reason I'm assuming you guys picked that passage. You look back on what was 2020 and you said, you know, this is our hope moving forward. I think, you know, as you move into the new year, whether you're making New Year's resolutions or if you're just reflecting and planning, I think it's good to write those things down if you want to. do. But ultimately, ask where God is at in the midst of all of those things. whether it's a gym membership or a relationship that you're trying to work on or a promotion or whatever those things are,
where is God in the midst of that? And, you know, the focus of that passage is think about focus on the things that are unseen.
Yeah.
And yeah, so we reflect on the scene, but how much do we think about the unseen? Yeah, as you said that, as you called attention to that in the margin of my Bible, I it caused me to think back to 2020 and what that was like. We had just started tandem spirituality, the ministry. We had all kinds of things slated and lined out that we were going to do and that we were going to accomplish and appointments and speaking engagements and everything else. And it all got cancelled in 20. Suzi had a significant birthday. I won't mention what number it was, but she had a significant birthday in 2020. We celebrated her birthday sitting on our front porch as people drove past to wish her happy birthday. And throughout, this is so crazy. Threw out rolls of toilet paper because if you remember, there was this shortage of everything back then. And so, as I thought about that, and that was just, that's just a
Jimmy, they were teepeeing your house.
Yeah, they were. Well, they didn't roll it. They just threw the whole roll. but you know, as I thought about that and then this verse in 2021, don't lose heart.
it was at that point, we were still in the mix of it, in the throws of it, and didn't know where it was all going and everything else. And now, now we have a clearer picture. I mean, I still have hand sanitizer that will be here when Jesus comes back because we thought it was all passed through touch. It wasn't. It was through airborne stuff. Anyway, all that to say, I think you're absolutely right.
when we focus on those things that we can see, it's easy to lose heart.
some of those things, most of those things perhaps are beyond our control.
We can't control them.
Yeah.
And so health issues, job issues, relational issues many times are not completely in our control
and it would be easy to lose heart.
Yeah. Yeah. What might it look like? So you make a Good point. We make these resolutions and we're assuming that we can control the outcomes, right? But we can't.
What would it look like as someone's looking forward to the new year, whether they're making resolutions or not, but just as they're searching their heart, identifying their hopes, their dreams, what would it look like to include God in that? What would it look like to cultivate that relationship to invite him into that. What do you think?
Yeah, it's a great question. and again realize as you hear this, there are all different paths I think to accomplish what I'm going to say. I don't think there's just one way. I won't give you five steps to make this guaranteed it's going to happen. but my summary statement would be I need to draw closer to Christ. Now, that I believe is the answer. What does that look like? Well, that's where it gets different for every person. it may mean well, I know it means spending time with him. So, how you define that time is up to you. for example, I might I would encourage you to pick a book of the Bible. There's 66 of them. And pick a book of the Bible and just camp there for the year. and spend time what is it telling me about Christ? What's it telling me about God? What's it telling me about his character? What's it revealing about how I am to live in the midst of it all? And I don't know that there's any one book that's the right book or the book to do. some of that depends on where you are in your own journey with Christ. Maybe some of you have done this many times and so you're going to go to a book of the Bible that you never really spend much time in or you go to one of the books of the Bible that you really want to know more about. And so in doing that, you're not trying to just gain information, but you're trying to say, "Okay, Lord, what do you want me to do with that?" I think there's a routine, a regularness to praying the Lord's prayer. it's acknowledging him, who he is, and then there are the requests and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Well, what's that look like for me? what's his will in heaven look like and what does that mean for me to carry that out here on earth? and again, I can't prescribe the pathway, Tim, but I can prescribe what I think it should bring me to, which is a closer walk with Christ, which will focus me on eternal things more so than temporal things.
Yeah. Yeah. I was just thinking about sometimes I'll read through the Psalms and I'll just go into the Psalms thinking about where my struggle is at
and where my need is at. And then as I read the Psalms, this doesn't always work, but sometimes I can just rephrase those verses into the struggle that I'm dealing with. And you know, pray praying through the Psalms and in light of your hopes and dreams for 2024. that may be a helpful thing.
Yeah. And it doesn't take away the fact that There's a lot of things that I desire. I have a heart desire for many things. Whether it be health of a family member, whether it be health of a friend, whether it be a job situation of a friend of mine, what those are things I desire. I don't think there's anything wrong with desiring those things. I want to be careful I don't turn those desires into demands that God has to do this, otherwise I don't trust him.
it's that ability to say, "Okay, Lord, you know, my heart, you know, these things that I desire. and those aren't going to change. I got to trust you to see how it actually gets played out. and so, that's a there's a fine line, I think, sometimes between desire and demand. demanding, that the eternal God of heaven, the creator of all things, the sustainer of life, has to respond the way I think he should.
I don't want to be guilty of that. And I know I have been in times past. So, but the Psalms are a great place. I mean, it's the laments of psalmists. It's the openness of them. You if you read the Psalms with an open eye to what is there, you've got to understand that people who were spokespeople for God, people who were called men after God's own heart, as in David, were not afraid to express to the Lord what they felt and what was going on inside. There was that honesty and authenticity about it. At the end, they still are willing to yield to him.
Yeah.
So,
yeah. And so whether you make resolutions or not, the turn of the calendar year is a good time just to reflect on where was your heart in 2023? where was your struggle? Where was your suffering? Where are you rejoicing? And as you look to 2024, how might you not lose heart? How might you focus on things that are unseen rather than seen as you are honest before God and present your goals and your desires to him that you would invite him in and that you would sense his nearness along the way.
Yeah, Tim, thanks for joining me this day and I hope that this has given you some things to think about as you head into 2024. Have a great week.