If you getting better and living bigger in this new year is all based on you, this is going to be a struggle. If it’s all about who you are, what you have, what you can do, and what you want, you are gearing up for an impossible battle.

This isn’t all about you. This isn’t all about what you can do. If it is, you will be limited by the same exact things that have limited you in the past. Nothing will change. Nothing will stick.

You weren’t created to live this life without the personal involvement of your Creator, so if you’re focusing on you, honey, this is going to be a hot mess! You are going to be sorely disappointed over your lack of progress and continued struggle with the same ol’ things.

But, girl, let me tell you, if you are doing these things through the power of Jesus Christ, NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE! If this is about becoming who God created you to be, and living up to his good plans for your life, there’s not a single wall, sea, chain, or mountain that can hold you back.

The question is – what is 2026 about for you? Is it all about what you want to do, where you want to go, what you want to change – or is this about God’s plans for your life and his original design of who he imagined you to be?

When your focus is on God, walls crumble. When your thoughts are centered on the Almighty, impassable seas part. When you are worshiping Jesus, chains break and prison doors are opened. When your faith is in God, mountains obey your command and move.

So, are you focusing on God, or are you focusing on your problems?
Are your thoughts centered on the Almighty, or are you thinking about the overwhelming changes required?
Are you worshiping Jesus, or are you worrying your way through another day stuck here?
Is your faith in God, or are you counting on your hard work to be enough to change things this year?

If this is all about you, then your grit will eventually run out, and you will come to a grinding halt. But honey, if this is about what God is doing in you and through you, then there are zero limits on the possibilities here!

2 Timothy 1:9 “God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time – to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.”

When this becomes all about your works, you are plugged into an extremely limited power source. You will get tired. You will grow weary. Your willpower will waiver. You will get frustrated. And maybe on the 9th day of this brand new year of life, you’re already feeling that. Those goals are already wavering. Some have already given up, believing they can never change.

Why do we have such a tendency to fail? Because we’re human.

You are human. You are not the power source. You are a carrier of the power source. Sis, this isn’t about your works, this is about the One who will work in you!

I travel with a portable charger. With this power pack, I can charge my electronic devices anywhere at any time. However, eventually that power pack will run out of power. It will go dead. It is not self-sufficient. It must be plugged into the direct source of power to be recharged. Once recharged, it has power within it to give again.

We are the portable charger. We can do things. We can make progress. We can achieve goals. We can make changes. However, never forget, Sis, WE ARE LIMITED. We are not self-sufficient, stand alone creations, meant to give and never receive. We aren’t meant to work and never worship. We aren’t meant to show up with power without first receiving power.

Do you want to know my secret to showing up with this amount of energy every day to pour into you? My secret is I get recharged every single morning first! And I’m not talking about caffeine. I’m talking about plugging into my source of power, my source of energy, my source of strength, inspiration, motivation, guidance and peace. If I don’t plug into him, I have nothing to give you. I’m as worthless as a dead portable charger. I’ve got nothing.

God is our source. We carry his power, but we continually need to plug into him to receive what we then give. You are filled to be spilled, but you must first, and continually, be filled. If you only focus on what you can produce, you will eventually run out of power and production will stop.

Remember when you used to produce? Remember when you were once showing up with so much power? Yeah … was that because you were plugged in then, and you forgot to plug in now? You’re on low battery, Sis. You forgot you weren’t created to do this on your own.

Get this straight right now at the beginning of this year and you will save yourself some major disappointment. If this becomes a focus on your works, it’s simply not going to work!

God didn’t call you to a great purpose because of the work you can do. He called you to a great purpose because of the work HE can do through you.

God didn’t give you those big dreams because of your power to push through. He gave you those big dreams so HIS power could push THROUGH you.

God didn’t give you your gifts and talents so you could look great. He gave to you because HE is great.

You are covered by his grace to fulfill your purpose. You were never designed to live a life that wouldn’t require grace. Grace is for your human imperfections that fail, and God knew about your failure before your first breath. He knew you couldn’t do this on your own and get it right. He knew you would struggle. He knew 9 days into this new year, you would question if this year could really be different for you. He knew you would find yourself right here today, desperately seeking this change, and he already predetermined the grace you would need here.

Let’s read it again. 2 Timothy 1:9 “God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time – to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.”

This scripture reminds us that his purposes for us were created before the beginning of time. That means before the book of Genesis. Before the creation of the world. Before Adam and Eve. Before a single thing happened, God had a purpose for YOU.

My mind can’t even wrap around that – but I chose to lean in and trust it because it’s God’s word. Can you lean in?

But, God didn’t stop there. As much as God had a purpose for you since before the beginning of time, he also had grace for you. Purpose and grace are connected. God destined both purpose and grace specifically for you, before the beginning of time.

He filled you with power, then he planned for you to continually come back and plug into him for more.
Grace for when you run out.
Grace for when you grow tired.
Grace for when you have nothing left to give.
Grace for when you forgot to protect what you had and let it be wasted.
Grace for when you were plugged into the wrong things.
Grace for when you sat doing nothing without purpose for so long, you went dead inside. (Woah, could that be why you feel so empty, so lost, so dark – you went dead inside. You’ve been sitting and you ran out of charge. There’s a solution for that. What do you do when your portable charger sat in your backpack for months without use and went dead inside – YOU PLUG THAT BABY BACK IN AND RECHARGE IT!)

There’s grace for that!

And all you have to do is use that grace, which he always knew you would be needing, to come back and plug in again to the Power Source. Be recharged.

What can you do on your own this year? Maybe a little, but eventually, girl, you’re going to run out.
What can you do with a continual connection to God? Infinitely more and greater than you could ever ask, think or imagine!

You can walk in the flow of grace, and fulfill God’s purposes that will absolutely blow your mind! That’s what your heart most desires, because it’s within your design from before the beginning of time.

If you need grace today because 9 days into the new year you’re already struggling, come get your grace. Recharge. Plug back in. Let his power flow through you. Then show back up with a renewed purpose to live in God’s good plans for your life with God’s power!

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