Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:06] Welcome to the Second Row Conversations podcast. I'm Letitia, also known as La P, And I'm so glad you decided to join me on today. Thank you again for all of you who have joined in on the Second Row Conversations podcast, who sent messages and who have sent words of encouragement. I truly appreciate it. I hope it's. Again, like I always say, I hope it's blessing you. Like it's blessing me. Today's gonna be a little different, but kind of the same. We're gonna do a motw, but not necessarily based off a message that I heard. This is just kind of some points that I've thought of and come up with. Kind of still reflecting on the word reset for the new year. If you caught my last podcast with Lady Laura, we talked about resetting for the new year. It's still January and it's still time to reset. So today we're going to share some points about that. So I hope you have a notebook. Get a notebook. If you don't have one with you, get your favorite coffee or your favorite tea and let's talk about how we can still reset for the new year. Okay? All right. So the new year is a gift from God. It's a chance to let go of the past, embrace his plans, and move forward with hope. Okay. One of my favorite scriptures is this is the day that the Lord has made, and we shall rejoice and be glad in it. That's in Psalm 118, verse 24.
[00:01:29] So every day is a new day to remember that it is a day that the Lord has made. And it is a time and an opportunity to rejoice in the day, even though it may not even feel like a day where you want to rejoice. It's a great opportunity to reset your day, reset your life for the what's to come. And so just let that be your key. One of the key scriptures that we're going to reflect on is remembering Psalm 118, 24, that this is the day that the Lord has made. Um, so today I'm going to provide some practical and faith based guidance for resetting the new year.
[00:02:04] One of the first points I want to present to you is reflect on the past without judgment. Reflection is key to growth, but it's essential to release guilt or regret. The scripture we're going to use for that point is Isaiah 43, 18, 19, and that is forget the former things. Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing now. It springs up. Do you not perceive it so again, reflect on the past without judgment. Don't let.
[00:02:39] My dad would say, don't let your past dictate your future. That's what he would always tell me and my brother. So don't reflect on the past in judgment, okay? Look back with gratitude for what you've learned. Always learn the lesson. There's always a lesson to learn in everything that we go through. Acknowledge your challenges, but don't let them define you. Again, don't let your past dictate your future.
[00:03:05] We've all gone through things and so you have to remember that it is a lesson that you have to learn. But don't allow that to determine what's going to happen in your future and let go of what no longer serves you. That's emotionally, spiritually or physically. One thing for me that I had to let go and I am still working on is the negative self talk.
[00:03:26] Cut off the tape player that's in your head or if you're not going to turn it off, let it play something that's going to be positive that's going to help you. Okay? So that's one thing I had to let go was the negative self talk. If you know, you know. Okay?
[00:03:41] And so with each point I'm going to have a reflection question. So the reflection question for this point is, what can you release to make room for God's new thing in your life?
[00:03:53] Again, what can you release to make room for God's new thing in your life? If you need to pause, take a moment, reflect on it and write that down. Okay, the next point. Set intentions, not perfections. Please understand this is not a life of perfection. We're not perfect. So be intentional about what you want to do, how the new year, how you want to reset your new year. But don't make it about being perfect. About being perfect. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm tongue tied today. I'm so sorry.
[00:04:27] Focus on meaningful, faith aligned intentions rather than unattainable resolutions. Wow, how many of us have set resolutions every year? Every year we set a new resolution every year. And how far do we go? A week, two weeks? And then you go, resolution. What? What did I say? Right? So the scripture for this point is Jeremiah 29:11. Very familiar scripture. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.
[00:05:07] Some key points. Choose intentions that reflect your values and God's purpose for your life. Okay. Break goals into small actionable steps. Progress over perfection if you're one of my students, if you've talked to one of my students, they can tell you, Ms. Plowden always says, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So if the goal looks too big for you, then you look at the goal and then you say, how can I break it down so that I can reach those small goals? To reach the big goal. Okay, write down your intentions and pray over them.
[00:05:49] For example, instead of saying, I'm going to read the entire Bible this year, commit to spending time, time with God daily through scripture and prayer. If you have the Bible app. And if you don't, you probably need to to download it. But on the Bible app, they have all types of Bible plans, all type of reading plans that will help you reach that goal of trying to read the Bible in a year. Because it can become overwhelming. It's like 66 books of the Bible. How many chapters in each book? How am I going to do it every day? Break it down. Okay. When I took a class during COVID I had to take a class for a certification. And I remember looking at the syllabus and becoming overwhelmed. And I closed my laptop and I. And I went and I sat and watched tv. I watched TV because I was like, I can't do it. There's no way I'm going to get through this class and do all of that. I can't do it. But then I went back and looked at it and said, okay, this is what's due the first week. I can do that. This is what this do the second week. I can do that. So break down your goal into small, actionable steps. Okay.
[00:07:00] All right. Reflection, question.
[00:07:02] What intentions can you set to align your life with God's will? Not your will, but God's will?
[00:07:15] There are many times that we've set again, resolutions, goals for our life. And we don't talk to our creator, right? We don't have a conference with him to. To say, God, I know what it is that I want to do, but what is it that you would want me to do? Is this lining up with your perfect will? And if it's not, then God, tell me, what is it that I need to be doing? Help me understand what it is that you would want for me to do.
[00:07:46] And not just your permissible will, but your perfect will. Two completely different things. What is your perfect will for my life? There are times where we aggravate him. And I'm going to say aggravate. We aggravate God so bad, we keep going to him with the same thing. Same thing. And so sometimes he just says, you know what? You want it so bad, I'm going to allow you to have it. I'm going to allow you to get it. That's his permissible will. But I don't know about you, I don't want his permissible will. I want his perfect will for my life. So what intentions can you set to align your life with God's will? How do you do that prayer? Talking to him in scripture, reading his scripture, reading His Word, and again, just having a conversation with him. Lord, what is it that you would have me to do? Okay, the next point. Cultivate self compassion. Wow. A reset is not about perfection. It's about grace and growth.
[00:08:46] Second Corinthians 12, 9. That's our scripture for that point. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
[00:08:57] Some points under that main point. Be patient with yourself when setbacks happen. They are a part of growth.
[00:09:07] Embrace God's grace and forgive yourself as he forgives you. Wow.
[00:09:12] And celebrate small victories along the way. Again, be patient with yourself when setback happens. How many times have we gone through things in life, be lifeened and we have this perfect plan, we know everything we want to do and then there's a setback. How do you react to that? That's a part of growth. We talked about it earlier. What can I learn from this setback?
[00:09:38] And how can you embrace God's forgiveness, His grace, and learn how to forgive yourself? I know for me that was a really hard point. A hard lesson that I had to learn is that it's okay to mess up and understand that God forgives you, but you have to forgive yourself. We are so hard on ourselves sometimes and that we set goals. We are on this path, this great path in doing right and then we mess up because we're not perfect. It's okay to understand that this is a part of growth. What lesson can I learn? And I have to forgive myself? I have to.
[00:10:18] Because if you're always beating up ourselves and never forgiving ourselves that self sabotage. Really? I think so. What do y'all think? Let me know. So a reset is not about perfection, but it's about grace. Show yourself grace. Show yourself grace. I'm big on showing other people's other people grace and forgiving them when they've hurt me. But that's harder sometimes for myself. So that's a part of my reset. Also for this year, a reflection question. How can you show yourself more grace as you pursue your Goals. How can you do it? Write that down. Pause it. Take a pause. Put me on pause. If you need to write that down, write your answers. How can you show yourself more grace as you pursue your goals? I think for me is just saying, you know what? This is the best. Did you give 100% today? And if I say yes, I did, then that's good. Just give 100%. If I couldn't give 100%, did you give the best that you could today? If I could only. If I only had 45% to give today and I gave that 45%, I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that.
[00:11:29] I had to do a reset, guys, for working out.
[00:11:34] The health journey has been a journey in my life for a very, very long time. Okay? A very long time.
[00:11:41] And so I had to do a reset this year.
[00:11:45] And I can honestly say that since the beginning of January, maybe the 6th, I'm gonna say maybe a little before that, I have been waking up at 4:30am and hitting the gym.
[00:12:03] I'm at the gym no later than 5:10, 5:15, and it's been hard, but God has allowed me to get up without any hesitation and going to do my workout in the morning before I go to work. And there have been times where I've gotten there and just did not want to give it, but I gave all that I have, okay? And then I had to show myself grace. You know what? Yes, we've been down this road many times before.
[00:12:34] Yes, you've done. You've set these goals and you've fallen off many times before, but it's okay. Show yourself grace. Move forward, and God is going to help you through it.
[00:12:49] Now it is more about being healthy than about being skinny. Okay? Yes, I would love to be smaller and skinny and all the things, but it's about being healthy. What am I? What does my lab work look like? How's my blood pressure? How's my cholesterol? How. What does that look like? Am I diabetic or not? Like, how much medication do I have to say? I want to be healthy and along the way, if I lose weight, which is also golden, honestly, I can't even sit here and pretend I just noticed. But if it is, that is a plus. But the main thing is that I want to be healthy. And I hope you understand what I'm saying. So I'm showing myself grace. When there are days where I mess up eating, maybe the wrong thing, it's okay. Don't beat yourself up. Show yourself grace. Okay, let's move on.
[00:13:38] How to make this year different. I'm going to give you some practical tips. Okay?
[00:13:43] The first one is start with prayer. Dedicate this year to God and ask for his guidance.
[00:13:49] Pray. Okay.
[00:13:53] A few weeks ago, actually watch. It was not. We don't call it. We didn't call it watch night service this year because we did a little earlier. But our New Year's Eve service, one of the things that pastor said was this year we were going to pray.
[00:14:09] Rejoice, pray and be thankful. This is the year of being thankful. So rejoice in all things. Pray in all things and be thankful in all things. Okay? So make this year a year of prayer. It doesn't have to be very long and you know all the things. Thousand shouts Talk to the Lord like you talk to the Lord. How do you talk to the Lord? However that is, talk to him. Okay. Me and the Lord have this conversation.
[00:14:37] It's not formal, it's respectful. I honor him, but he and I are. He knows how I come to him. And I'm not being fake. I'm being authentic. And so this is the year of prayer. Dedicate some time of your day to spend with him. Okay. Prioritize relationship relationships. I'm sorry. Strengthen your connection with God and others.
[00:15:04] Okay. We. God didn't create us to be by ourselves. He loves relationships.
[00:15:10] He showed that in Genesis when he gave Adam a helpmate and said, not good for a man to be alone. I'm gonna give you somebody.
[00:15:20] And so we are not in this world to be alone. So learn how to prioritize relationships. If that means call your friends and say, hey, let's get together. Let's have some coffee, some tea, let's go to brunch. Let's go for a walk. Let's just have some time to talk. How you doing? Do a check in, but make it a priority. Life is so busy. We are so busy. Yes, we are resetting and setting goals. But in that resetting life and setting goals, don't let that take priority. Make time for family and friends. Check on your friends. Check on your family. Okay?
[00:15:59] Make sure everybody's good. Just do a quick check in. So make that a priority.
[00:16:04] Stay consistent.
[00:16:08] Remember, lasting changes comes through small daily actions. Stay consistent. My word for this year has been disciplined. Stay disciplined. Stay consistent. Okay.
[00:16:21] Waking up at 4:30 every morning is a challenge. I'm trying to tell you, especially these last few days when it's been cold and I want to stay in the bed. Stay consistent. How do you eat an elephant One bite at a time, okay? Whatever that goal is, be consistent. Make small steps toward the big goal, okay?
[00:16:43] Stay in the Word. Use scripture as your guide and encouragement. Stay in the Word even if you don't know what the scripture you need for whatever situation you're going through. My Word, my Lord, Google is available. If nothing else, how I'm going to. Give me a scripture about being grateful. Give me a scripture about how to forgive myself. Give me a scripture about being disciplined.
[00:17:16] There's a scripture for everything that we're going through. I promise you. Everything that we've dealt with, Jesus dealt with, believe it or not, and he will show us how to deal with it, deal with whatever we're going through without sinning, my Lord. So whatever you need, whatever we're going through, there is something. There is something that you can always refer to. I've given you some scriptures, okay? I've given you some scriptures today. There's a word for everything that we've gone through, that we're going through.
[00:17:46] So even if you don't know where to start, Google, okay? Promise you it'll help you. And then build a good support system. Share your goals with trusted family and friends or mentors who can encourage you. Have a good support system. People that you can talk to and say, hey, this is my goal. Help me. I have an accountability partner for the gym. We don't work out together, but every morning I send her my picture as my proof that I'm at the gym, and she sends me her picture as proof that she's at the gym. That's my support system.
[00:18:22] Not one time did she judge me when I stopped going to the gym.
[00:18:27] And I don't judge her when she doesn't go to the gym. It's just good to have somebody there to encourage you to say, I'm proud of you. Keep going. And if you hit a bump in the road, just to know that somebody's there saying, hey, it's okay, keep moving. Don't give up. I got you. Okay? So have a good support system. Let it be if it's a friend, a coworker, a mentor that you look up to, have a support system. Is good to know again that you're not in this life alone and that you have people that love you authentically, genuinely. Not what they can get from you, not how they can get over, but real people that really love you and support you and only want the best for you. Okay? So build a support system.
[00:19:15] All right? And just the last point, A new year is a fresh Page in the book of your life. Write it with faith, hope and purpose. Lamentations 3, 22, 23 says, the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
[00:19:40] Wow. Every morning, morning, by morning, new mercies. I see. Right. Great is thy faithfulness.
[00:19:48] God is doing something new in your life. Walk boldly in this new year, trusting his plan and leaning on his grace. Remember, every day is a fresh start. When you walk with him, there's a song that I love, I love, I love, I love. Jesus said, you can lean on me. I won't let you fall if you just lean on me.
[00:20:11] I'm a witness. Okay? For the last, I don't know, six months maybe, God has been reassuring me that I won't leave you or forsake you.
[00:20:25] And that's the scripture, and I don't have it in front of me. I'm sorry, but Google it. It'll let you know where it is. But he has been reassuring me and I have been reassuring others. Through life, through interactions, God won't leave us nor forsake us. He won't leave us. So we have to remember that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. It never ends. He is always there, even when our friends and our family forsake us. And I've been dealing with this lately. It's like, friends or people that I thought were my friends or just people in my life that I thought was going to be there, they're not there.
[00:21:08] And it's been hard. The last year or so, it's been hard. But I promise you, God has reassured me that even through that, oops, hit myself in the face, y'all. Sorry. Even through that, I got excited. Even through that. Even through those times of feeling like I'm out here by myself or what you thought was not really what you thought. He assures me that I won't leave you or forsake you. And I am appreciative. And he has put people in my life, and I am so grateful for that.
[00:21:38] So remember, God is doing something new in your life.
[00:21:42] Walk boldly into this new year, trusting his plan and leaning on his grace. And remember, every day is a fresh start. When you walk with him, remember that. Okay? So this year, this month, January, I hope it's been a time of reset. It doesn't matter how many times you have to reset. It can be every day.
[00:22:06] It can be. Even if you're doing. You said reset. January and your year's going well and you're in February, you march and you fall off the wagon, as we sometimes do. Just remember, it's okay to reset. Give yourself grace. The Lord help me and get back on. Okay, so I thank you. I hope this has helped you as it has helped me.
[00:22:35] The scriptures, the reflection questions. I hope you get a time to read them, meditate on them and come back to them when you need them. Because they're going to be plenty days that's ahead that we are going to need them. So just remember, never too late to reset. And if you have to reset 10 times, you just keep going. I thank you for joining me on the second road. I can't wait to see you the next time. Please remember to like share. Let the folks know about the second row conversation podcast. I appreciate it. We are on YouTube and all podcast platforms. I thank you. I love you and I appreciate you. And remember, no matter where you are, no matter what life has brought you, no matter how many times you have to reset, just accept it, embrace it and flourish in it. I see you next time. Thank you.
