Happy New Year To You!

By: Brandon Montague

With the fresh start of 2019, the beginning of a new year, come the typical “new year, new you” pledges that we tend to make to ourselves. Most often, these New Year resolutions focus on improving our overall health or are contrived in order to break a bad habit or two. We generally concentrate our efforts toward self-improvement and, usually, this change is short-term. We try hard to set personal goals that are long-lasting, but the statistics show that, in America, over half of men and women who try for long-term change are doomed to fail by the middle of the year.*

So, then, how are we able to obtain a permanent change to our daily lifestyle? How can we make these New Year resolutions with confidence, knowing that the results will stick with us for longer than 6 months? What are some steps that we can take to guarantee a lifetime of better health and a higher quality of life?
From my life experiences, and from what I have seen happen in other people’s lives, a successful change comes about when the following short list of items takes place:
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1. Put your faith in God and trust that His way is better than your own.
2. Stay committed to the goal and continue to persevere toward your purpose.
3. Find your support system of positive individuals.

There are other ways to successfully achieve the results of your New Year resolutions, but these three are vital to more permanent life change. This is why I believe a person must only need these three items:

1. Put your faith in God and trust that His way is better than yours. Pride is talked about in the Word of God as something that causes destruction. The act of being humble and seeking wisdom from God is pleasing to Him. When we finally admit that our ways are not His ways, and when we come back to Him for guidance, God will bless us and give us direction. The book of Proverbs is chock full of reminders to humble ourselves and to listen to Godly counsel. Obeying Biblical truth gives way to wisdom.
2. Stay committed to the goal and continue to persevere toward your purpose. It’s easy to quit at the first sight of resistance. Words are just words when we don’t want to embrace the meaning behind them. The purpose we feel when we are passionately seeking true change in our lives is life-giving. When we are certain that this purpose was given to us from God, when we know without doubt that our goal(s) have been blessed by God, it emboldens us to press on through any sort of obstacle that we may experience.
3. Find your support system of positive individuals. We weren’t made to be alone in this world. God has given us men and women to love and inspire us. We were created to be in relationship with other human beings and to build into these individuals. Find these men and women – they could be immediate family or distance relatives, close friends or coworkers, neighbors, etc. – and claim them as your own. This is a two-way street, so be sure to communicate to them how needed they are in your life. Tell them that you love and respect them. Ask them for assistance when needed. Seek advice and accountability from these people. Give them encouragement from time to time. Make it known that they are valued!

Follow these three ideas and your New Year resolutions are as good as gold! I have seen these three ideas serve several of the homeless men and women that have come through the doors of the City Mission, too. Those who are struggling and in need of a hand up have put their faith in God’s ways and not their own. Often-times, the reason why he or she has needed our services is because they have tried their way instead of seeking God’s way. They stay committed to the goals that they make while at the City Mission and they continue to persevere no matter how difficult it may be. They work hard to better their circumstances in the time they are given to stay at the shelter. Lastly, they find support in the Mission staff, local churches, friends that they meet from work, or elsewhere. This is where they draw their daily strength…from the love and encouragement that they receive from these individuals. And they realize they were not created to be alone, but to be in relationship with others who can help them and who they can help, too.
 
* Cited from https://proactivechange.com/resolutions/statistics.htm
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