#187: How to start the new year with grace

INSIDE: How can you start the new year with grace? Whether you’re starting a new year, a new job, or a new season, listen in to how to start the new year with grace.

At the beginning of a new year, we feel all the newness, shininess, possibility, and hope that the turning of a new year brings. We find ourselves giddily excited about a new planner, new goals, new dreams, and a fresh start. Even blocking off time to think big and reflect brings an exhale of happiness as we contemplate what could be and who we are becoming.

And friend, let us not despise or try to quiet or tamp down our enthusiasm for new things or a new year or a new you.

Just as God set eternity in our hearts, God also instilled in us a desire for newness. To be made new. For God to create in us a clean heart. To perceive the new thing that springs forth under God’s watchful tending. To enjoy the new mercies He offers us each morning.

You see, once we are in Christ, the old has passed, and we are new creations. He removed the heart of stone and gave us a heart of flesh. Our newness through salvation is our justification. And once we are a new creation in Christ, He continues to make us new through the sanctification process. Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

So, friend, your desire for newness in your life, to be new on the inside and out, to participate in the creation of newness, is a gift from God we are most attuned to at the start of the new year. May we not be women who squash or silence this gift, but may we be women who partner with Christ to become new in the ways He wants to shape and form us. To that end, I’ve curated past Grace In Real Life episodes and resources in one place just for you. When you want to embrace newness in practical and actionable ways, come here and find what you need.

We’re breaking down how to start the new year with grace into three categories:

Let’s get back to the fundamentals
When you’re ready to set goals
When you walk into the new year tired

How to start the new year with grace: Let’s get back to the fundamentals

How to start the new year with grace: When you’re ready to set goals

How to start the new year with grace: When you walk into the new year tired

Bonus resources for how to start the new year with grace

How to start the new year with grace quotes

“This year, remember that Jesus is just crazy about you.” – Jill E. McCormick
“You have a God who lacks nothing and gives everything.” – Jill E. McCormick
“Relax, knowing God holds all things together, including you.” – Jill E. McCormick
“Your desire for newness in your life, to be new on the inside and out, to participate in the creation of newness, is a gift from God we are most attuned to at the start of the new year.” – Jill E. McCormick
“May we not be women who squash or silence this gift, but may we be women who partner with Christ to become new in the ways He wants to shape and form us” – Jill E. McCormick