Anyone who knows me is aware that I love to sing. It is one of the gifts that God has blessed me with in my walk with Him. Recently, I received an accompaniment track called “Dry Bones.”

This song is taken from Ezekiel 37 where Ezekiel was standing in a valley of old dry bones. God told him to speak to those bones that God would breathe life into them, He would restore their tendons, flesh and skin and they would come to life and know that He is the Lord!

Ezekiel obeyed and spoke the words and bone came to bone, tendons, flesh and skin covered them but there was no breath in them. God told Ezekiel to call for the 4 winds to come forth and breathe into them. As Ezekiel prophesied it the wind blew the breath of life and a vast army stood to their feet.

How many of us are walking around feeling like we are a bunch of dry bones and have no hope of life getting better?

We think “Oh this is a new year, everything will be better now” but then we look and it already seems as if nothing has changed at all.

Question is – what have you changed in your life? Are you dwelling on the feelings of loss and hopelessness or are you thanking God you still have a life to live?

I have times when the feelings of hopelessness almost overwhelm me. My husband died last April and he had me very spoiled when it came to our home. Things become more than I know how to deal with, but then God reminds me that I am not alone. He is always right there with me ready to answer if I call out to Him.

When I start to have “dry bones” I have to choose to turn my mind back to my first love. I have to choose to focus on God and how good He is to me. Does that make things better immediately? I would love to be able to say “yes” but honestly, no it doesn’t. See, I chose to take the walk down the road of despair and so I have to turn around and take the walk back out of the valley of dry bones to joy and hope.

What we choose to focus on and allow to become primary in our lives is what affects our heart, mind and spirit. That is then what we start speaking and bringing to pass in our life.

Luke 6:45 “The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.”

Everything in our life comes down to choices we make. Do we want to be bitter and spiteful or loving and giving? Do we want to be hopeless or joyful?

When we start to feel the “dry bones” of our lives taking over with depression, helplessness, hopelessness, bitterness or any other negative feeling we have to make a choice to not claim them and hold on to them.

We need to hold on to the Word of God and fill our heart and mind with His goodness. Getting into the pit of despair has become too easy for many of us because we choose to live by our feelings and then climbing out of that pit becomes more and more difficult.

Solomon tells us in Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

It is important to guard our hearts and minds. Keep them “oiled” with the life giving Word of God so that we don’t grow dry and brittle.

Jesus told us to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The problems with having a “dry bone” mentality is we are unable to love anyone as Jesus commanded.

Let’s look at this new year as a chance to make more positive choices rather than a chance for more things to go wrong. Trust God, that if you choose to spend time building a stronger relationship with Him, that He will lead and guide you in your decision making.

Praise, worship, sing, dance and be thankful for all that He has done, is doing and has planned to do in your life. Speak life into your “dry bones” and watch as God breathes the breath of life back into your spirit and fills you with the oil of joy.

Remember that it may take time to get out of the valley of dry bones, but God is there helping you all along the way. If you haven’t called on Him for help, He is waiting with open arms to receive you as His child. Calling on Jesus to be your Savior is the one instantaneous guarantee that we have in this life. He accepts us, saves and forgives immediately when we call on His Name.