HOW TO START OVER (WHEN YOU’VE GONE TOO FAR)

Time to clean out your refrigerator and mind!

It happens about this time every year.

Christmas is dismantled, taxes are due, and unfinished anxiety is stacked in every corner.

I need to start the new year, but I'm stuck. That's when God points me to the kitchen.

"Start with the icebox," He says.

God knows that my head's a lot like a refrigerator. I can't move forward until I deal with what's inside.

Because the very places we use to store good things to sustain us can also hold unhealthy beliefs that weigh us down.

It happens to the best of us before we know it.

We get busy. We're hungry. The world hands us a cookie. We take a bite.

"Don't go overboard with this God thing," the world says.

It smiles and hands you another. "Do what feels good. Follow your heart."

So you put those ideas in your cart. You're tired and hungry and say, "That looks good. That makes sense. I'll buy it."

But then, one morning, you open the door to your life, and something doesn't smell right. You thought you left more in that corked bottle. You swore you didn't finish that pint.

While you're searching for the stinky culprit, the world shows up, takes a whiff and says, "Hmmm. I don't smell anything. Must be in your head."

And THAT'S when you remember. 

You're not confused, after all. You have the mind of Christ. 

"But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ." 

(1 Corinthians 2:16b)

His Spirit dwells within you and guides you to what's true, good, and right.

"When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth."

(John 16:13)

So grab the nearest trash can and let the Holy Spirit point out every moldy thought curdling in the back of your mind. 

Then, dump it all down the drain. 

"let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up." 

(Hebrews 12:1)

Open your Bible and dine well. 

Before you know it, you'll find the strength and wisdom to face what lies ahead.

Out with the old, in with the new, in Jesus's name. 

Today's the day you move forward. 

This year is the year you run well.

"And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us."

(Hebrews 12:1)