Happy New Year everyone!  This is a long one that is unexpected.

I find myself posting unexpectedly today when my plan was to start Monday, but something stopped me in my heart.  It has interrupted my day.  I have this deep churning in my spirit to write you today.  There is a single question I need to ask you today.  And it can’t wait because you are in the battle now.

Here is the question; Has Discouragement Already Visited You This New Year?

It’s only the beginning of the new year, but I have this heaviness in my heart–this pressing deep inside–that discouragement has already bombed some of you unexpectedly.  I can hear the voices swirling around you, taunting you, harassing you, trying to convince you that this discouragement, and this alone, is what you have to look forward to in the new year.  It’s as if the world is trying to prove to you in the first week that there isn’t any reason to get excited about a new start, a fresh year, a new beginning, because your old song will continue to play on.

For some of you, the discouragement is not a surprise because you have been pushing through for some time.  You have been fighting battles mentally and physically for years.  But for others, I have this sense that you have been unexpectedly bombarded in the last 48 hours with old lies, old voices, old tapes.  That even today some of yo have had unexpected events occur that stabs old pain, leading you to believe that nothing will ever change.  Without warning, you find yourself feeling upside down, afraid, doubtful and discouraged.

If you are connecting with this, and you don’t feel like this is crazy talk, I want you to take heart.  This struggle is evidence of what good awaits you.  You must know that voices of discouragement would not harass you unless your faith, your hope, your belief in the impossible was growing.  I have experienced over and over again this mysterious dynamic of breakthrough waiting on the other side of discouragement.  Even now as I write, I feel a fury in my hands–my spirit, a fury to fight for you in my heart, my prayers.  There is a battle for you to not believe, not hope, not desire, not even think the impossible is possible.  The battle is so strong because if you can be convinced of this the second day of the year, how much easier it will be to convince you in days to come.  At some point, there will be no need for convincing because you will have accepted a belief that this year will be like every other year before.

Despite all the noise around you.  Despite all the pain you may be feeling today.  I want to invite you to choose to believe that what you cannot see is more real than what you can see.  To believe that hope in what you can’t see, faith in what you can’t put your hands around, both of those things are more real, more alive, than any reminders of past pain, any threats that have bombarded you today, any mountains looming over you.  For some of us, choosing to believe in what we cannot see is a heart wrenching choice.  The taunting voices almost make us deaf.  But come to the quiet with me.  Come to the unknown.  Tell the kids, your spouse, you need a few minutes alone.  Set your smartphone timer for two minutes and be still.

In the stillness, ask for peace that passes understanding.

Ask for hope that believes in the impossible.

Ask for courage to ignore all the evidence that says you have no reason to hope.

Breathe in the stillness, exhale the noise.

Two minutes can change your whole day.  Two minutes of listening, being still, can change your whole year.

If you are already fighting for your hope in the coming year, take heart.  Clearly, much good is coming to you.  I am not sure who this is for, but I know it is for someone.  My day has been interrupted to sit and write this, and I know it’s because you cried out and God heard it.  You cried out for a sign that says you are worth fighting for, your future will not be a repeat of what today has been, and if you could only have some evidence that this is true…it’s you I’m writing too.

Breakthrough is on your horizon.  The impossible is about to show itself possible.

It isn’t to late to do this powerful exercise for yourself and this New Year.  Maybe today is the perfect day to do it.

xo,

m

*Feed your creative spirit hope, encouragement and inspiration in Me Ra’s Restart Your Creativity course.  Begins Jan. 20th 2016.