Start With God

Happy New Year! It’s JD here. Normally, my husband does the reflections / devotions on our blog. Thought we’d change things up this year so that both of us are sharing our hearts with you based on what God has impressed upon our hearts. Today, God reminded me of something very basic yet often overlooked: Start with God. 

It’s amazing how quickly we can forget about starting with God, even when we just talked with Him, talked about Him, and gave praises and thanks to Him the night before. As our family celebrated the final moments of 2015 and rejoiced as we marched forward to 2016, we were pretty excited about what God had prepared ahead of us. We were so excited that we even forgot about claiming the gift He just gave us as we were so enveloped in our gratitude towards His goodness. It was THAT good!

This morning, we were awakened with some alarming news. While my husband and I got together to pray and seek God’s wisdom not just for the challenge at hand but for whatever’s up ahead, I just finally realized (now that it’s already dark) that I had forgotten to spend my daily morning quiet time with God today.

Sure, I can easily rationalize and tell myself,

Hey, now… don’t worry. You already prayed with your husband earlier today. It’s not so bad that you didn’t get to have your quiet time this morning.

Regardless of how good that sounds, the truth of the matter is: I forgot.

Plain and simple.

This post is a humbling reminder to myself that I must not forget to always start with God–regardless of what kind of challenges hit me in the face the very moment I awaken.

Let’s put it this way: What if, one day, God forgot?

That would be terrible.

Thankfully, He doesn’t. Ever.

We are forever indebted to His goodness.

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Deuteronomy 31:6 KJV

Start With God

If there’s one thing that struck a chord in my heart today, it’s the reminder that God will never fail me, He will never forsake me. I do not need to fear. I can “be strong and of a good courage”. I can–and must–start with God.

As we know, it’s not just about starting with God. It’s not just about ending with God, either. It’s a lifetime process, a journey, a daily walk–better yet, a moment-by-moment walk. Here’s the thing: how can we even do that if we fail to start with God in the first place?

Thankfully, He is merciful.

As soon as I realized that I forgot about Him, I knew in my heart that He was ready to forgive me.

It is of the Lord‘s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV

There are many ways in which we can quickly forget about God. This world is full of distractions, full of worries, full of problems–and even, full of pride. By God’s grace, it is never too late to start with God.

My dear friend, how will you start the New Year?