As the days keep moving on in this New Year, and I work on my next book, scheduled to come out later this year, it’s easy to get overwhelmed when things go wrong or there are too many interruptions. Sometimes other issues pop up that need my attention, and it temporarily slows my writing schedule down. If you’re wondering how I deal with it and still manage to get everything done, it’s fairly simple—I take one day at a time. Sometimes, it’s one hour at a time, or even one minute at a time. We aren’t promised tomorrow, but it’s what we do today that counts.

In Matthew 6:34 (KJV), it says, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.”

How do you deal with the challenges of life? Have you learned to take one day at a time, or do you worry about tomorrow and wonder how you’ll get everything done?

With a New Year beginning, and an old year left behind, it’s sometimes easier to focus on a person’s regrets about not doing all the things they had planned to do in the previous year. Or some might dwell upon the regrets of not doing or saying what they should have in the old year, rather than focusing on the opportunity to say or do things in a better way during the New Year.

After losing my husband last summer, which I’m sure, is part of the grieving process, there have been a few times when I’ve thought about some things I could have said or done differently over the years, or even during the days shortly before his passing. But then, I must call myself up short, knowing that I did my best, and so I change my focus to remembering many of the good times we had together, and how we kept the promises we had made to each other when we said our wedding vows. I also think about the last words Richard and I spoke to each other, less than 24 hours before his death. We kissed one final time, and both said, “I love you.” That is most certainly worth focusing on, don’t you think?

How about you? Are you looking forward to what lies ahead in the New Year, and leaving any regrets from the previous year behind?

In Philippians 3:13&14, this is what God’s Word says about regrets: “but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

At this time of the year, I often think about some of the things I’m most thankful for. Even when we are going through difficult times there is always something to praise God for and be thankful. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” I Thessalonians 5:18.

As I reflect on some of the things I am most thankful for, the following comes to mind: My relatives. My friends. My church family. My pastor and his wife. My publisher. My dear readers. The joy of writing books. Memories of the years I had with my loving husband. My faith in God, and knowing how much He loves and cares for me. “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love endures forever.” I Chronicles 16:34.

What are some of the things you’re most thankful for today?