12302022_LbT_Recap2022

The episode of Living by Thriving discusses a recap of 2022 and reflects on the lessons learned from the past year. It emphasizes the importance of making positive changes in our lives as soon as possible, rather than waiting for the new year. The episode also touches on global events such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the death of Queen Elizabeth II, highlighting the increased level of anxiety and uncertainty in the world. Despite these challenges, the episode encourages listeners to understand different perspectives, show love to others, and trust in God's sovereignty. It reminds us that while the world may seem uncertain, God is in control and everything will eventually work out for the good of those who love Him. The episode concludes by reminding us to conduct ourselves in a way that glorifies Christ and to recognize that the struggles and conflicts we face today are not unique to our generation. On this episode of Living by Thriving, yet again we reach an end and a beginning, a conclusion of a year now past, and the beginning of a new year to come. In this episode, we will be talking about a recap of 2022. What lessons did we learn from this year that we can apply to the next? What are some things that we enjoyed or things we'd like to forget? Wherever and however you're listening to this, you will have some parts of your life that you want to let go from 2022, and parts that you want to carry over to 2023. But it is good to take some time to reflect, to look back. Today's recording day is December 30, 2022. And as you can tell, we are nearing the end of another year, another 365 days in which the world has changed, another year in which we have made decisions we liked and choices we may have regretted. Time that once again, we had the opportunity to spend wisely or foolishly, but time that is now gone. And as we look ahead to 2023, some of you may already be making some New Year's resolutions for 2023. And resolutions themselves are not bad. They can be good. But it's my opinion that actions that are taken sooner rather than later are better. If you wait until the new year to change yourself in some way, shape or form, saying this arbitrary point in time to change, while it may work for some, for others, it may cause you to forget when the time comes around. How often have we told ourselves we will do something X amount of time later, but then forgetting to do so once that X amount of time arrives. Instead, when we have the chance and the good timing to make positive change in our lives, it is best that we do that as soon as possible. I don't think one of my resolutions for 2023 is to just be more active, more active in spending time with God, more active in doing activities, more active in planning, etc. Because I realize when I look back at this year that while I did do activities that I enjoyed, and I feel like I spent my time a little more efficiently than last year, there is still lots of room for improvement. There is still lots of room to do better. And so this simple, non-specific goal of being more active can apply to many parts of my life, and I hope to implement that, not just starting on January 1st, but even now. It's the small decisions you make today which affect your tomorrow. It's the habits and the traits that you develop now that shape your future. So be careful if you minimize your decisions you make today, passing on the responsibilities of today's mistakes to tomorrow. Because before you know it, tomorrow becomes yesterday. So we have to choose how we spend our time carefully. But more, what I want to talk about today is the 2022 recap. This has been an eventful year globally. I don't think you need my reminder about that, but let's just dive into it a bit quickly. Of course, we know the biggest event internationally in 2022 was the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And on a global scale, we have seen tectonic shifts in the geopolitical sphere. And a part of the change that is reflected in society in general is an increased level of anxiety towards possible cataclysmic events. For people who grew up during the Cold War, especially during the height and the peak of the Cold War, there were of course fears of nuclear conflict and nuclear apocalypse. It doesn't take too much to look up on YouTube the videos that were spread by the U.S. government to try to dissuade its citizens from feeling this extra fear, but to be prepared for the worst. And of course, as the Cold War faded away through the decades, those videos became relegated to the museum, the virtual museum and the dustbin of history, at least so people thought. Now with politicians and those in power talking about nuclear crises, conflicts that are more tense or as tense as the Cuban Missile Crisis, and other lines of rhetoric that fall along these lines, it's no wonder that there is a heightened sense of anxiety among many in the general populace. Now whether you personally are feeling the sense of fear or not is one thing, but it is important to acknowledge that the world around us is more tense than it was a year ago. And we have to keep this background in mind as we live our lives and do our daily activities. We don't want global events to shake us with so much fear that we cannot live our daily lives, nor do we want the opposite extreme where we are completely unaware of what's going on in the world. The point of what I'm trying to make is that we need to understand what's going on now in this moment of history and around the world in our interactions with others so that we can understand more of people's different perspectives and weigh those perspectives in with the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Again, we don't dismiss other people's perspectives and opinions outright, nor do we listen to other people just so we can find a gotcha moment in a debate. But we truly seek to understand what other people have to say and show Christ's love to them, whether that's through charity, kindness, rebuke, or even discipline. There are many ways and standards in which this can apply. But of course, we must listen before we respond. Another interesting global event that has happened this year is the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Of course, people have many opinions about the Queen, ranging from all sorts of extremes. But the point I'm trying to make, along with the point about Ukraine, is not an in-depth dive into those conflict situations, the wars, the details of people's lives, whether they did good or bad things. It's less of that in this podcast episode, not that those things don't matter, they do, but it's less of that in this episode and more of just a global general shift in perspective. Many people viewed the era of the Queen as one distinct peaceful era in history, the era past World War II. That era has seemingly died at the end of this year. With the war in Europe going on and the death of the Queen, it feels like the world is entering uncharted territory. We know God is sovereign and in control of all situations. But we also must acknowledge the fact that others, especially those who are not Christians, may be feeling even more uncertain than before. So understanding this global perspective and understanding the fears and concerns of others can help us better relate to them and them to us as we continue to spread the good news to those around us. And so who knows what 2023 may bring? People in 2019 of December probably did not have global pandemic, civil unrest, and a bunch of other tumultuous events happen in 2020 on their prediction list. I highly doubt that. And so trying to predict what happens in a given year can be a nice fun exercise or some brain simulation to see whether you can predict things or not. It could be kind of fun thing to do. But attempting to predict things concretely is a foolish endeavor. We know the future is uncertain. It may have felt more uncertain than ever this decade. But regardless of how certain or uncertain we feel about the future, we must We must continue to remember that God's sovereignty triumphs over our temporal fears and that he is in control of the situations in the world. He is not surprised. He wasn't surprised when COVID first spread throughout the world. He's not surprised when good things happen in the US and in the world. He's not surprised that Russia invaded Ukraine. He's not surprised about the inflation. He's not surprised or stunned about any event in the world that's going on. In fact, he in his sovereign will allows these things to happen for his glory, not because everything that's happening now is good, but because even through bad, horrible, terrible things, all things will eventually work out for the good of those who love God, even if the things happening now have no signs of good in them. And so it's understanding God's perspective and that his ways are higher than ours can comfort us, even if all our questions can't be answered in the given time. And some of the things I mentioned may be specific to this day and age, but other things I've mentioned don't have to be relevant just for today. They may be issues such as injustice, which have existed throughout essentially all of human history. We must watch out on our conduct and behavior to make sure that we are on guard to glorify Christ in all that we say, do, and think. And so when people are tense in this global environment, and we may view things in a present-centered focus in perspective, we must also remember that there are things that have plagued the world and persecution against Christians that have existed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The situations, of course, are different or slightly different, but they rhyme, they are similar, and people before us who have passed long ago went through the same types of sufferings and conflicts we do today, if not worse. So again, another mistake that people make is thinking that today, this day and age, is the worst or the best that it's ever been. Sure, there may be some things that are better or worse or best or worse than before, but that doesn't give us a path in this day and age to view ourselves as superior to those in previous generations, or vice versa, that those in previous generations were somehow better or more holy than people in this generation. There's always been people who have made decisions for Christ and people who haven't. People who glorified God in their lives and people who didn't. People who lived authentic Christian lives and testimony and those who are hypocrites. That has always been the case. That is not something that is new to this day and age. So again, we balance these seemingly competing ideas, but we realize they don't actually contradict the more we think about it. We just have to realize that being aware of the current situation in the world and understanding as well that the current sufferings and tribulations we go through rhyme in the past with sufferings Christians have gone through and the world has gone through then. Understanding that big, whole, comprehensive picture comforts us because we know God has been sovereign through all of it, and we know he will be sovereign in 2023 and beyond despite whatever comes next, both good and bad. It's also interesting, right, that when good things happen, it's easy to praise God, and when bad things happen, it's much more difficult to praise God. It's basic human psychology, but of course we have to train ourselves, train our minds and our flesh not to act the way everyone else does in the world, but to stand out, to give glory to God in both good and bad things, to give him the praise and the honor even when we have to suffer, even when others take advantage of us. It's this distinction and this difference which will separate believers from non-believers and, Lord willing, win lost souls to Christ. It is also our comfort as Christians knowing that when we do stumble in sin and stumble in making people suffer or making mistakes that we commit, we know that Christ forgives us and as long as we are alive and breathing, we can praise the Lord and we can be comforted that there are still more chances to come and that maybe reconciliation can happen for those who we think are in the past, too. We know that we can trust God through any situation and we know that we can place our worries and our anxieties on him because he cares for us. And so, yeah, to wrap that up, this global picture, we know things are tense, but we know God is good, so we trust him through the good and the bad and we give praise to him even if the world stares at us and wonders, what are you doing? That seems weird. That's odd. Why do you praise God even in these situations? That's when you know, if you're still praising him authentically, that you are doing the right thing. And so, I guess, zooming in a bit from these global tension events and, of course, perhaps my recap is not the most comprehensive of the world. Maybe I made some errors here and there, but regardless, you get the general picture. Things are tense, there is plenty of things that need to be fixed, as it always has been, and if you feel God calling you in one area over another, of course, it's good to follow what he's convicting for you. Personally, I look back at this year, I view it as having more good things than bad things. Also, eventful, per se. Some things remain the same, still working, of course, still trying to adapt to the workplace environment, learning things, even now, two years into work, learning is a lifelong process, something that is stable in that sense. You're never going to reach a point in work where you stop learning. So, pretty much the same in that matter than in previous years, all pretty much consistent in that case. I guess, personally, as well, diving into some more physical activities, running with church group, rock climbing, running on the treadmill, etc. Just trying to be more physically active there, not being as consistent as I'd like, having stopped running with the church group for the past month or so, or two months, I should say, trying to pick that up again, trying not to lose the rock climbing habit, because bad habits are easy to pick up, but good habits can be as well. It's all about the mindset, it's about being disciplined, and it's also about being spiritually disciplined as well. More about that portion later. But we can rationalize and justify decisions however we please, but at the end of the day, we're the ones who have to bear responsibility for our actions and consequences follow, whether we do them or not. In this case, my mindset of feeling like I couldn't do more than one physical activity at a time has a consequence. The consequence is twofold. One, I am able to be consistent with one aspect of physical activity these past few months, but secondly, I have not been as physically active as I could have been. I have not been living in the most physically active way. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing can vary based on circumstance, but I know that if I have a, if we visualize this, if I have a full tank, 100% of energy, I want to drain that tank all the way down to maybe 2% or 1% and then recharge it back up to 100% for the next day. If I don't utilize my quote-unquote battery all the way, then I'm leaving energy on the table. I'm leaving opportunities on the table. I'm leaving God's blessings on the table. I'm not taking full advantage of the gifts God has given to me. Of course, you don't want to run through the battery so that you're at 0% and you don't want to use so much every single day that eventually your battery quote-unquote leaks, just like in an actual phone, where your recharging period of sleep and rest, you don't go back up to 100%. You don't want that either, of course, but my emphasis is more on the former, which is not using all the battery and not doing as much as I should be doing. Tying back to my resolution of being more active, I know that I can do more than what I'm doing now. I'm doing one podcast episode a month. I could be doing more, but honestly, it feels more that I need to pour in resources to other areas, being more physically active, being more spiritually active, most importantly. I may not be able to hit that ideal quote-unquote perfect ratio of work to rest, but I know I can do more. I know I can be better, and it's not myself trying to achieve vain glory by doing this. I know God's given me resources and talents to do things for his glory, so I need to be utilizing his gifts all the ways that I can. Time flies. Did you think 2022 was a slow year or a quick year? To most people that I've talked to, 2022 seemed like it was fast for them, and I agree with them. Sure, the year is 365 days long, but as you get older, time seems to go by more quickly, and the reason why is because as you get older, your perspective on life changes, because when you are 10 years old, your 10th year is one-tenth of your life. When you're 20 years old, your 20th year is one-twentieth of your life. You see what I mean? So the older you get, the shorter a year is because your perspective on life is changing. Naturally, your perspective on time has changed, and thus, time will only seem to go by faster in the years to come. I hate to say it. I'd rather that not be the case, but it's that perspective, that subjective perspective that you have that you can't shake off. It's just a fact of life. It will feel faster, unfortunately, and so since our time is becoming more limited, you may say to yourself, okay, well, maybe that's just a mental thing. I can get over that, but you also have to acknowledge that other people are going through this as well, even on an enhanced scale because of COVID. Yes, there are still people in 2022 who want to stay indoors and limit social interactions with everyone because they don't want to catch the virus two years after the pandemic. In fact, three years now, close enough to three at least, since the pandemic started. And people who live through the quarantine period, which is pretty much everybody here, you understand that the routine became cyclical and mundane quickly. You may have stayed at home a long time or your apartment or one room apartment or wherever. You stayed in and your days felt like they flew by because there wasn't enough stimulation or stimuli to make you feel like you're doing new things. Thus, the days blend together. That's why for me, 2020 felt quick because there wasn't that much activity being done. And so for people who are still doing that or partially doing that, or even just because they did that so much in 2020, their perception of time feels distorted as well. But they also believe that the time now is flying by faster than ever because their bodies still haven't adjusted to the rate of time pre-pandemic. And whether that applies to you or not, it does apply to others. So again, being aware of what others are going through can help us in our conversations with them to understand them better. But we know in general, time flies and we know time is our valuable resource. We know that time is the one thing that you cannot gain more of. You cannot earn by working a job more time. You're gifted a certain amount of time by God and when that's it, that's it. When he calls you home, he calls you home. Or in more blunt terms, when you have reached your expiration date, the time is up. There are no extensions. Knowing this sobering fact should not make us feel depressed or sad or anything. Knowing that death is inevitable should not make us feel too sorrowful. It's a sobering reminder, but it also can encourage us to make the most of the opportunities we have. Because this life is temporal, fragile, because this life can end at any time and because we know it will end at some point, we know we must maximize our opportunities. And it doesn't matter if we've wasted so much time in the past and it doesn't matter the mistakes you've made in the past, in this umbrella of time, because we can change our mindset now while we still do have time to work for the full glory of God and to rest as well for the glory of God. As I've mentioned before, actions have consequences. Even if you change your mind and you no longer do quote-unquote bad things you did in the past, that doesn't mean consequences won't follow for those actions. What it means though is that you have changed your mind and your mindset so that your future actions will have learned from those previous mistakes and thus you won't stumble into those same pitfalls and traps and setbacks again, at least those within your control. A year is 365 days. I hope you enjoy your holidays, your Thanksgivings and Christmases with family and friends. Each time the holidays roll around, it's a great time to give thanks to God and it's a reminder as well that we need to cherish these moments with our families and our friends. Who knows what it's going to be like in a year? I think these past three years have taught us quite well. A lot can change in 365 days, personally and globally. While we may not be able to control global things, we may not even be able to control a lot of personal things, we know that God is calling us to be transparent with him and to repent of sins and iniquities that we are going through that we have not yet confessed to God. He is calling us to do this so that he can create in us this clean heart and he can create this clean heart and renew his right spirit within us and we pray that he may not cast us away from his presence but that he may continue to renew a right spirit within us. We praise God for second chances, third chances, fourth chances, tenth chances. We praise God for being so good and patient to us and we know that God is calling us and convicting us thus to repent of sins that we have not confessed to him because if we do not confess our sins to God then what are we doing? We're holding on to the sin. We're holding on to the portion of our lives which is leading to death because sin leads to death. It's like I want a little bit of poison in my drink, just a little bit. I don't want to let it go. I don't want to pour it out because I like that poison. I like that little bit of vomit in my food. I like that little portion but not so bad mild poisonous drink because it tastes good. It's that type of reasoning. It's of course when you put it that way it's a foolish decision yet you fill in the blank with the sin that you haven't confessed yet to God and suddenly you don't feel as good now as you did five seconds earlier and so when we fully confess our sins to God not only do we feel a sense of relief in our confession we know that the Lord Jesus he is faithful and just to forgive as long as we confess every unrighteousness to him. We know that a prayer of a righteous man heals much and so we know as well if we confess our sins to close Christian friends we can ask for their prayers and whether we've wronged them or not we can also ask for their prayers just as we ask the church for prayers and church community for prayers and we know that the scripture says that the prayer of a righteous man heals much so it's good to practice these good habits even if you haven't done it in weeks months or years today is the day you can. We cannot keep waiting for tomorrow to happen because even if it does we know that our tomorrows become yesterdays quickly as I said one time before. We know that time flies so we have to make the most of it. We know it flies so why is it so difficult to change? Why is it so difficult to drop habits? Why is it so difficult to let go? Why is it so difficult to repent? Well there may be many answers to that and some answers only you or a few others may know but we have to ask ourselves here who are we looking towards for hope and who are we looking towards to trust as our ambassador of time? Okay maybe those words weren't the most precise but in other words who are we looking for to trust to give us advice for how we spend our time? Is it the Lord or is it someone or something else? There are many competing interests in our lives for how we should spend our time and some may be more clear to ignore than others but it all draws back to the basics once again to put our full trust in Jesus and to place our hope in him knowing that he wants what is best for us and truly seeking out what he wants us to do in our lives truly obeying him in the clear aspects of his commandments to follow his known will to abstain from sinful habits and activities to embrace charity to embrace God's love to live out the fruit of the spirit. We know these things they are clear. Some Christians spend lots of time arguing and debating and questioning portions of Christianity that are less clear that are more ambiguous that are more complex and difficult to understand and of course there is a time and place for that but we have to get our priorities straight here and we must realize that we need to first and foremost be obeying God in the clear and indisputable ways and commandments he teaches us and tells us to do. To love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself clear not up for debate on that commandment how you do that can be up for debate but the overall concept is clear as day love the Lord your God with all your heart all your soul all your strength and all your mind clear again the how how you do that can vary it can depend but the overall concept is clear it makes more and more sense to me when Jesus says that your faith must be childlike to enter the kingdom of heaven because children may not understand the complexities of the faith or debate and reason clearly as scholars but they understand that these commandments to love God obey God they understand it and do it if they have childlike faith and so this that is not up for debate we tend to make things so complicated putting up so many roadblocks and barriers following these simple commandments of God his known will are these simple commandments obey them and you're following God's known will there is an unknown will of God which is basically the parts of your life that you don't know such as where you go if you move such as where you go if you move somewhere whether you should change jobs or stay where you're at whether family members will still be around if they have health issues so on and so forth those things are unknown to us they're known to God but unknown to us that's why it's the unknown will of God but the known will of God is clear it's obeying his commandments we need to stop putting up roadblocks as I said just earlier and stop over complicating things that are easy to do it's easy to obey when times are good and people are pleasant but suddenly difficult when people are unpleasant and times are difficult but the teachings of God and the commandments of God are not predicated with a condition they are not clarified with the word saying unless if so and so is bad or something bad happens or so and so really you don't like then you can disobey this commandment they don't have those conditions or those get out of jail free cards as much as we may try to reason it and hope for it they're not there and no matter how much you try to nitpick the scripture to find a way out of the clear commandments of God or to go around seemingly difficult passages saying not everyone who says to me Jesus say not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven we can try our best to work around that simple verse but it's clear as day not everyone who says Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven not everyone who claims to be a Christian is a Christian it's the most straightforward interpretation that's the correct one it's not so complicated like think oh well maybe if God says the end of the age that doesn't mean eternity maybe that means that hell isn't eternal it's just a really long time it's all it's these foolish attempts to try to like dumb down Christianity to a way that makes you feel better these foolish attempts that we do to try to cope with verses we don't like it's it's just a waste of time it's something that while we may feel bad about or feel that it's harsh for unbelievers to spend an eternity separated from God we also understand that God's justice is supreme we also understand as we said earlier his ways are higher than our ways there is no example of someone being unfairly condemned to hell that's not going to happen don't worry about that if God is who he says he is and he is then we need not be concerned about these exceptions to the rule that's a lot of times we love to look at exceptions I know I like to look at that at least when I'm if I have some questions about Christianity and there may be some things where I think oh maybe this is an exception maybe this is something that that could contradict what I've been taught well it there again there is a time and place to talk about these potential disagreements and these one percent cases where these extraordinary circumstances may lead to a free pass or something I'm just making up some words now but you get what I mean the exceptions of the rule rather than the rule itself but we need to realize that while God can do whatever he wants to do we must realize that he gives us the scripture for a reason he doesn't give us the scripture to confuse us or confound us but to show us his teachings show us his love and also give us warnings because he loves us he does not spare harsh words because he cares for us he gives us warnings he gives us these clear and tough commandments to obey because he loves us if he did not love us he would not give us these commandments he wouldn't care if we obeyed or not if he didn't love us so instead of questioning if God is bad or or if he is harsh or unfair we must realize that he has been overly fair to us in fact he's been unfair in a sense that he's given us so much more than we deserve already he's given us so many gifts talents he's given us resources there are almost too many to count and we look at people who may not have the blessings that we have and yet we see that there are many examples of people who still have joy in Christ even though they may have very few physical possessions they may be missing a limb an arm or a leg or both they may be going through sufferings such as health problems financial issues fill in the blank and yet they still have joy well not everyone in those situations has joy even one person that does have joy in Christ should challenge us we who have more in the world's eyes what are we doing with the more gifts that he gives us are we falling into a sense of bitterness and angst when that's really not what we're going through we're just calling it bitterness or angst when really we're just upset that we're not getting the things we want in life or that we think that God is denying us quote unquote blessings we deserve thus denigrating those terms of people who are actually suffering bitterly and severely denigrating those terms and thinking that we are on equal playing ground because of our pride our ego because of whatever sinful traits we hold close to ourselves us as we look back at this year and look towards the next year we know things change we know our God stays the same we see through the highs and the lows of our days weeks and months and we pray that God gives us more chances to glorify his name we pray that the lessons of 2022 the hardships that have been suffered throughout the world the sufferings that people still go through that they may be alleviated by God's mercy and grace we hope that the mistakes that we made this past year the decisions we made that wasted time the sins we committed that went against God we pray that he forgives us we pray that he again that he delivers us from them again 2022 a year full of events a year full of change in the world a year that many may consider not good and not bad just in the middle or a year that may have been really good or bad to you in different ways shapes and forms we know that since February of 2022 that the world has been on edge and we know that just because the year flips over to 2023 that things will not just automatically change for the better or denigrate towards the worse but let's view 2023 as an opportunity I know through various retreats and trips that I've been on this past year seeing God's creation in different places other than Texas seeing it whether it's through nature or just through the sunrise on the beach side or just wherever just outside the United States he's good even though I didn't go out the U.S. this year he's still good in different countries we just see his goodness and we see that his perspective again outweighs our perspective whoops got a little bit lost in a sense of words over there so my apologies I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry whoops got a little bit lost in a sense of words over there so my apologies but just circling around to the original point while we don't know what 2023 may particularly have in store again it doesn't flip to whether it doesn't flip to being automatically good or automatically bad but we can pray that God has used us this past year taught us many things for the full purpose in this upcoming year to glorify his name in ways that we may not imagine or think of now or even if we do think of it now in a bigger way shape and form that we could hope for because you know God doesn't have limits even if we do so let's enjoy his blessings give thanks to God for the good that happened in 2022 ask God for comfort peace and consolation for the things that did not go so well in 2022 be ambitious in the new year your time is limited so is mine what are we doing with it are we utilizing our periods of rest for true rest are we spending the days when we are not resting productively for his kingdom are we asking God continually for forgiveness when we stumble and fall and ask for his guidance when things are uncertain are we depending on him more and more are we growing closer to him or further away we need to make sure we're spending our time well for his glory and if we are spending it well we have an ambitious schedule for his kingdom and that we do not settle for self-imposed limits of how fruitful we can be for his kingdom we trust God and obey and we trust that he takes care of the rest and we obey in every way shape and form possible we ask God for deliverance from the attacks of the enemy and his legion we ask the Lord for help when we need help we pray without ceasing and we give thanks to God even when we fall short of being ambitious and fall short of his expectations he still forgives us he still loves us he still redeems us he still gives us more chances we realize that on our own we can never fulfill his expectations we understand though that through Christ he gives us the ability to do these things that can be used supernaturally for his glory even if it's ordinary things and so even though 2022 comes to an end and 2023 begins we know God doesn't change and we know he is still good so we can trust that he will be good forever and ever and that Lord willing even the things we mourn about the things that we suffer through in 2022 even the things that carry over to 2023 may sooner be healed by God rather than later we trust that he is good we trust that God is sovereign in this year to come in this year to come whether this year is a mundane year in 2023 whether things remain the same because God's saying not yet it's not time to move whether it's a tumultuous year where you move around many places where your life situation changes where your friends may change your acquaintances may change your profession may change regardless of what happens in this year to come how unstable or stable it is we trust God we go back to the basics having that childlike faith knowing that even through confusing times our God is able and he is the bedrock of our foundation he is sure he is true we give thanks to God give thanks to the Lord for the blessings he's given to us we know we can only thrive because of Christ and that he will give us what we need even if it's not what we think we need thank you so much for listening happy new year 2023 and Lord willing this year will be a year that we will use for his glory