Happy New Year my friends. New year resolutions are all around us, but I disagree that a new year should equal a new you, no matter what messages you are seeing on social media or in your email because you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Jesus already made you new when you received Him as your Savior.

While God is big into offering fresh starts, in fact, Lamentations 3:22 reminds us that His mercies are new every day, His gift of turning to a new calendar year doesn’t need to be met with the harsh criticisms and standards we inflict upon ourselves. Whether it’s losing weight, starting an overambitious Bible reading plan, 10 habits we are going to drop or pickup- all of that is too much to handle. Instead of seeing a positive change in our lives, our “resolutions” usually end up as a weight of shame around our necks come February.

On today’s episode we are going to take stock of 2025, rejoice in the things we accomplished, and start the year on a high note. We don’t always give ourselves enough credit, looking only at the things we didn’t accomplish or didn’t do up to our high standards and then comes the new year where we stack even more expectations upon ourselves.

What if, instead of putting more weight and pressure on ourselves to fix each of our flaws and the world at the same time, we set “new intentions” for the new year?