It’s the halfway point of the year.

Maybe the first part of your year has gone exactly like you planned it.

(Somehow, the chances of that having happened will likely range from ‘slim’ to ‘yeah, right.’)

For me, the first six months of 2021 were different from what I’d charted out. For one, I thought I would be at my “ideal” weight by now. Kidding. I’m a mama in my 40’s. “Ideal” is what I decide it’s gonna be – can I get an “Amen”?

But, seriously, I thought we would be back to “normal” life in India. We had celebrated Christmas with the whole extended family. I thought the worst was behind us. The new year was going to be the year of restoration.

And then, the second wave. Way more devastating than we had experienced in the initial days of the pandemic. Death knocked on our doors. Lockdowns and restrictions became the theme of our lives. Fear and uncertainty left us paralyzed.

But today we have a chance to reset because His mercies are new every morning.

We have the opportunity to set a new course for the next half of the year. We have 185 days left this year. One hundred and eighty-five days that God gives us to use for His glory.

Time is a gift from Him. We can’t let a microscopic virus—or any other situation—hold us hostage and dictate how we’re going to spend that invaluable resource.

While we may not be able to change our circumstances, we can re-evaluate, redeploy, and reaffirm our goals at the mid-point of this year. Let July become your new January.

Re-evaluate

What have the first six months of the year taught us? Has it forced us to unlearn some things we believed were non-negotiable? What do we want to keep, throw out, or upcycle in terms of our priorities?

Is it simplifying and decluttering our lives so we make time for the important and not just the urgent?

Is it carving out more time for family?

Is it cultivating contentment and gratitude?

Is it consistently turning to God in prayer because we know we can’t make it on our own?

This is a good time to review our goals from the start of the year. Do those goals still ring true?

Redeploy

Where will our energies for this next season be focused?  Is it time to restructure and reassign our resources? Is our 9-to-5 going to consume all we have to offer? Or is there more?

Should we focus on generosity?

Should we focus on mending broken relationships?

Should we focus on growing in our knowledge and love of God?

Reaffirm

As we face the next few months of more questions than answers, let’s reaffirm our trust in a known God who holds an unknown future.

God holds our times—the good and the bad—in His hands. Like J.D. Greear asks: “Has it dawned on you that nothing dawns on God?” Nothing takes Him by surprise. He knows what tomorrow holds.

Perhaps this is the moment to say: I simply do not have the strength to face the giants of the next six months, but He does. I simply do not have the resilience to power through the rest of this year, but He does. I simply do not know how I’m going to keep my head above the waves, but He does. And He will see me through. Let’s reaffirm those truths today, friends. Remind yourself of His promises. Remind yourself of His character. Remind yourself of who you are in Christ.

He is the God of hope. He is the God of our tomorrows. He is the God of 2021.

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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

This article is an edited version of a similar piece I wrote for this blog last year.