How to Keep Your Faith Tank Filled for the New Year

I don’t know about you, but 2018 was NOT a good year for me and I am not alone.  Many are the ups and downs of having a teen or young adult in crisis.

This past year brought for me a child whose anxiety was higher than years in the past coupled with PTSD.  Depression and low self-esteem thoughts came next with multiple days of sleeplessness and frustration. Then there are the relationship complications with other children and before you know it, more obstacles come and you find yourself with not one dilemma but a quandary of them.

You try to guide your child through it, but some days you just want to throw your hands up in the air and say, “I’m done!”  To make matters more difficult, you have your own problems to deal with. A broken dishwasher, a broken microwave, a broken tooth, bills piling up, a spouse with health issues, a sick animal, car headaches, and the list just goes on and on.  

How can you stay hopeful when your tank of faith gets drained at every turn?  One source for me is the Word of God. In fact, it is the ONLY source that I need to go to and the only one which fills me for what I need every day.  I cannot continue on this parenting journey if my tank of faith and hope is empty and I have nothing to fill it.

So with that, I must be refilled every morning – with encouragement, hope, strength, joy, peace, and most of all faith, which is what carries me from day to day. Last year, I lost my vision of direction amongst the problems I was faced with.  They were mountains in which I could not see over or pass through. The main reason, I was too focused on them instead of the Lord who is our mountain mover.

This year, I am changing how I deal with our crises.  They will be head on with God as my armor. Here are some of the New Year resolutions on my list that I plan to keep, how about you? 

1. Finish reading the entire book of the Bible.
2. Highlight encouraging scriptures and place them in strategic places that will grab my attention and renew in my mind.
3. Make a “Worry” box to write down my concerns, pray over them, put them in my box as a way to let God know I am giving them to Him to worry about and take care of instead of me.
4. Strive to remind myself something positive each day instead of something negative.
5. Read one book that is encouraging for parents – a devotional, a biography of an overcomer, etc…
6. Reach out – meet with friends more often, connect with other hurting moms and pray together.
7. Take care of myself – I bought a Fitbit to monitor my health and wellbeing.  
8. Pray for someone else who is hurting.  Be their prayer support. Praying for others is another way to be blessed through your own circumstances and another avenue to build your faith.
9. Find more mentors for your child to help them grow and heal so that the burden does not rely so heavily on you as parent.
10. Pray, pray, pray, pray, and never stop praying.

Today, as the New Year has started, be encouraged.  Be hopeful! Be build up in your faith. God has it.  He is waiting for you to take hold of it. He continues to be our burden bearer. He never intended us to do it alone.  

So fill up your tank today! Happy New Year!

𝓢𝓽𝓪𝓬𝔂 𝓛𝓮𝓮

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:30-31

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”  Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:5

Photo Courtesy of Kristine Weilert from Unsplash.com