I just love a New Year...don't you?
They come with brand new calendars! :)
It's not that there is anything magical about the start of a whole new calendar...the pictures may be pretty but the squares that the 365 days are assigned to sit in are blank...anything can happen...and usually does.
A New Year, represented by these prestine wall hung time measuring devices, is an opportunity for a brand new beginning...and if you are anything like me, you can use a new beginning on a pretty regular basis.
It's human nature and it's been that way since the garden...Adam and Eve got a new address and a fresh start after they messed up...mankind got to start over after the flood...and thankfully for me God's mercies are new every morning!
But there is something very special for me about the start of a New Year...it's a time for reflection. Each and every year of my life has been made up of the good and the bad...some years the good out weighed the bad and other years the good just seemed to be more like a condiment than the main course.
Good or Bad, as I reflect over this past year...and others in my lifetime...GOD has always, ALWAYS, been faithful to ME! I may not have signed up willingly for what some years dished out but by GOD'S GRACE I am a better me for having walked through it all with HIM.
So as 2011 faded out and 2012 loomed fresh I count the blessing of the year passing and look hopefully into the one dawning...hoping that some of the tough times will be a season past and that what I've learned from those will bring hope into the new that can be shared with others.
The Lord, in His grace led me to the verse I am about to share with you. I claimed it for myself as it lept from the page when I read it...shared it with a valued friend when I felt the Lord nudge that it was for her too...and made a New Year's Eve devotional from it for my family as I felt led to let my husband and the girls in on what the Spirit had been whispering to my heart for days.
Now I am going to share it with you...because I'm nice like that :)...you decide if it's for you for this New Year.
Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old histroy. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is. I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.
Isaiah 43:18-19 The Message
These are the questions I asked myself...
*What from the past do I need to let go to not miss the present and move on into the future?
*Why do I need to be alert and present?
*Am I excited about the prospect of something brand-new or does the thought of change scare me?
*Do I have any idea what the new thing may be?
*What does it mean that God is making a road in the desert and rivers in the badlands?
That's a lot to chew on for the beginning of this New Year...I really can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us all!
Serving Him and You,
~Michelle...ApronGirl
