Dericka Canada Cunningham, GBW Founder
January 31, 2022
This Week's Anchor
“This I recall to my mind; therefore, I have hope.
It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed,
because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning:
Great is Thy faithfulness”
Lamentations 3: 21-23 (NKJV)
We’d like to officially express our excitement for the new year and the return of Grounded Black Women devotions! The unfolding of a new year often brings with it a goal-oriented mindset. Even those of us who turn our noses up at the concept of “resolutions” find ourselves, at the very least, setting intentions, looking for new ways to grow and evolve, reassessing and adjusting our life plans, and visualizing what the new year might bring. I don’t know about you, but this new year has felt like a drag for me. With a recent wave of pandemic burnout, I’ve found it difficult to do just about anything, let alone ground myself in the Word of God. I have felt utterly empty with nothing left to pour. Nevertheless, as I waded through the cumulative exhaustion to re-launch GBW for the new year, God called me to the book of Lamentations to help illuminate exactly what I was feeling.
Like Jeremiah, I found myself internally lamenting about the state of the pandemic, the world, and my exhaustion from it all. Maybe you can also relate to this degree of stress and suffering. Throughout the book of Lamentations, we hear Jeremiah authentically share his afflictions and sorrow—matter of fact, he doesn’t hold back. However, in Chapter 3 where this week’s anchor scripture is nestled, we see an important shift occur. This scripture reminds us that we can find hope even during troubled times (“This I recall to my mind; therefore, I have hope”, vs. 21). Amid his grief, Jeremiah makes the powerful statement, “it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: Great is Thy faithfulness” (vs. 22-23).
Where would we be without God’s new mornings filled with ever-flowing mercies? If you recall the first devotion shared during our launch last summer, we started GBW underscoring the beautiful truth that a new year isn’t required to begin again. Well, I have great news: God’s new mornings are also unbound by our social constructions of time. Although midnight is considered our temporal signal for a new morning, our good ole friend Sis. Dictionary tells a different story. According to her, morning is also defined as “the first or early period of anything.” This means any moment can be your new morning to hit the renewal button on God’s fresh mercies. This moment…and this moment…and this next moment can be your new start. The best part of it all is that, unlike our fleshly selves, God isn’t sitting there on the other side of the morning with His arms folded, ready to hand out what we deserve and reprimand us for our distance, complaining, and ungratefulness. Instead, He is there waiting for us with eternal grace and unrelenting mercy.
I think we can all agree that being able to reset ourselves in this way feels deeply necessary, now more than ever. But how do we create new moments for ourselves to receive God’s replenishing new mercies? In this chapter of Lamentations, Jeremiah provides insight on where to start.
1. Pause (vs. 21)—the NIV version of this scripture starts verse 21 with “yet”. If I could enter the mind of Jeremiah at this moment, I would imagine that what came before Jeremiah’s “yet” was an intentional pause. Jeremiah pumped the breaks on his lamenting and decided to shift his perspective. When we are waist-deep in grief, we often find ourselves on autopilot—going about our lives, barely keeping our heads above water, and being disconnected from the Truth that anchors us. By making intentional pauses, we turn off the autopilot and allow ourselves to reconnect and re-ground.
2. Reflect (vs. 21)—Jeremiah shares that he “recalled to mind” what he and his community had experienced, but more importantly, Jeremiah remembered what God had brought them through. When we reflect on the mercies that God has already provided us and His character of love and grace, we are filled with unexplainable hope that He will provide that same mercy yet again.
3. Shift (vs. 40)—We are called to turn again to the Lord, and to “lift up our hearts with our hands” in worship and praise (vs. 41). At the moment it can feel incredibly difficult to make this shift, but know that we don’t make it on our own—the Holy Trinity stirs it within us on our behalf. All that is requested of us is that we simply invite them in.
4. Receive (vs.26)—When we “hope and quietly wait” (vs. 26) we put ourselves in the position to see God’s faithfulness and unfailing compassions (vs. 22) show up in our lives. For some of us receiving mercy is the hardest part of this process because we are burdened by the perspective that we don’t deserve it. We’re right, but there is no need for the burden. God’s mercy isn’t dependent on what we deserve. It’s given to us despite what we deserve (thank God!).
So, as we start this new week and enter the second month of this year, let’s go boldly knowing that God’s grace and compassion are ahead of us. In our weakness, our afflictions, our grief, and our exhaustion, He is strong. With all that you are carrying within you today, begin again, trust again, receive God’s mercies…again. Let them flow through you from the top of your head to the soles of your feet—like a river that never ends.
Reflection
What is resonating for you about this scripture and/or this devotion?
What challenges/influences your ability to pause and shift your perspective?
What do you need from the Holy Trinity to help you create a new moment to receive renewed mercies?
What intention(s) do you want to set to connect and/or reconnect with being grounded this week?
Related Scriptures to Ground You Through this Week
Psalm 23:1-6
Psalm 30:4-5
Isaiah 33:2
2 Corinthians 6:3-10
Hebrews 10:23-25
James 1:2-4
My Through-the-Week Reflection Guide
A Song of Inspiration
Quote of Love & Liberation
“Every storm runs out of rain.”
Maya Angelou
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