Accepting the Grace of New Mercies Every Morning

I woke up all out of sorts and couldn’t seem to shake it. The heaviness of the state of our world on top of the new burdens family and friends must carry alongside those on my own plate put me in a mood I was powerless to release.

Unable to stay focused on the task I was working on, I decided to go out to the garden to spend a few minutes there.

After a torrential downpour overnight, I walked to the garden not expecting to see much more than garden boxes full of mud. To my amazement, new life had sprouted up all over the garden. Tomatoes, beets, carrots, herbs, and flowers had all emerged from the dirt.

Tiny, hard-to-see sprouts of new life transformed the box of dirt into a garden full of potential.

“What a difference a day can make,” I thought.

After a pause, it hit me:

Tomorrow will be a new day.

I felt my soul lighten as the verse in Lamentations 3:22-23 came to mind which shares that, “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Sitting with Our Discomfort

The burdens that weighed heavily on my mind didn’t evaporate as I was reminded of this truth, but it did offer me a reprieve. God was with me in the heaviness and He would be with me as I worked through it. I didn’t need to rush it. While tomorrow would be a new day, today it was okay if I needed to feel out of sorts, it was okay to linger over the burdens I felt and bring them to God instead of striving to push them away. That feeling the discomfort and processing through what I felt today would grant me more space tomorrow—a new day where I would be offered new mercies.

My personality tells me a different story—one that urges me to bury my feelings because they don’t deserve my time or attention. While my body desires to fight against me to feel my emotions, sitting with them, I am reminded that dismissing them does not bring me out on the other side any faster. Acceptance instead of rejection leads to transformation. Instead of “getting over it,” I’ve learned that sitting with my emotions leads to a place of wholeness, a place of grace—a step on the path to a full life.

Sitting with my emotions leads to a place of wholeness, a place of grace - a step on the path to a full life.

Feeling the emotion, naming it, and bringing it to God allows the discomfort to eventually pass. By recognizing the new mercies the Lord provides, I can draw closer to Him in my need instead of shying away from the discomfort I feel.

God is our lifeline and His mercy and grace are abundant.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:24 ESV