By Nancy Virden (c)2025

Every New Year’s Day brings newness to our senses. Some face it with hope. Parties draw people who are trying to drown anxiety in a form of escapism; a few families and church groups gather to pray in the new year. For one person, the New Year offers a clean slate, while for another it brings fear of consequences for last year’s mistakes.

Still, it is new. Like all new things, we must try it, taste it, scrutinize it, and theorize over it. There are no guarantees. Latching onto control or the perception of control distracts many into denying the fragility of plans.

We may have to embrace a new normal, one we never wanted or dreamt would happen to us. Entering the world of poverty for the first time, losing a loved one, being out of work, or suffering failing health are unexpected surprises that can uproot all that we knew to be normal. We must change our patterns and dependencies. We must learn to ask for help and trust others to care.

A new normal is an opportunity to choose who we will serve. The warrior-leader Joshua gathered his people and asked, “If you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

We must each answer the question, who will I serve? If comfort and money take the place of God in our minds, we will be bitter at what we perceive to be unanswered prayers. Suffering will lead to rage or bargaining. Compromise will be sought without wisdom, and our “new normal” will remain, but without God’s peace.

Allow Him to shape your new year. Surrender your will to His perfect one. Anything that happens will be unable to rock your faith because you know that the One you serve is good. This life is not all there is; we will live for an eternity with or without God. Now is our chance to choose the new normal of forever.

-COMMENTS WELCOME

Today’s Helpful Word

Joshua 24: 24-25

The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God. We will obey him alone.”

 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day at Shechem, committing them to follow the decrees and regulations of the Lord. 

If you are feeling suicidal or concerned about someone who is, in the U.S., call 988, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. For a list of international suicide hotlines, go here.

If you are suicidal with a plan, immediately call 911 in the U.S. or go to your nearest emergency room; in the EU, call 112. (For other international emergency numbers, go here.) Hope and help are yours!

Always the Fight Ministries (ATFM) has been displaying compassion for those fighting mental illness, addiction, or abuse since 2012. Nancy is the founder and voice of ATFM and openly shares her emotional resurrection from despair. 

NOTE: Nancy is not a doctor or a mental health professional and speaks only from personal experience and observations. This website is not intended to substitute for professional mental or behavioral health care.

_{HOLY BIBLE, NEW LIVING TRANSLATION, COPYRIGHT © 1996, 2004, 2015 BY TYNDALE HOUSE FOUNDATION. USED BY PERMISSION OF TYNDALE HOUSE PUBLISHERS, INC., CAROL STREAM, ILLINOIS 60188, PER BIBLE GATEWAY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. RETRIEVED FROM HTTPS://WWW.BIBLEGATEWAY.COM/}