It’s a new year. A new year full of hope and
promises. Life will be better next year. Maybe you have New Year’s
resolutions. Maybe you don’t make New Year’s resolutions because in a
few weeks they we will not be resolutions anymore. I personally
don’t make New Year’s resolutions. This year though I decided to try
something new. A few people I know have a word for their year and it has
always inspired me. So I decided to ask God for a word this year. I
heard God laying two words on my heart for the
year…I felt like God was telling me to TRUST. I feel Him repeating the
word over and over through sermons and podcasts as well as through
devotionals and discussions with friends. The other word for my year is
COURAGE. I took a quiz from the Christian company
Dayspring and the quiz told me my word for the year was courage. The
word courage does make sense. Life is getting harder and harder
physically for me. My body seems like it’s getting weaker and more stiff
every day. I told my husband last night that rolling
over in bed was definitely something I took for granted. Life takes
trust. It takes courage. Some days I want to wallow, throwing myself a
pity party. Some days I have to stand on my friends words and their
belief in who God says I am. Do you have friends
like that in your life? Friends that encourage and pour truth into your
soul when you can’t seem to look up our focus on the truth instead of
the lies? Friends that can also tell you that hard things when you
don’t want to hear them? I am very blessed because
God has brought me friends just like that in every city our family has
lived.
Christmas time is over and our house is slowly
getting back to normal chaos of life. Also, I love the tree and the
lights decorating the house...but I also love when it is all packed up
for next year. Don’t you feel a sense of relief when
your last box is packed up? I’ve also been taking down the Christmas
cards or Thanksgiving cards or New Year’s cards (whichever holiday you
might send us a card:)). I love looking at each family and thinking
about the city where we met them and how God changed
our lives through them. We take the cards and cut out the pictures and
glue them on popsicle sticks. Each morning before school (or after
depending on the craziness of the morning) each of us take a popsicle
stick and pray for that family. It started out when
my children were young and I read about a family prayer jar (www.happyhomefairy.com).
We lived in Texas and our family is spread through different parts of
the country. I wanted my children to know there extended family and so I
found pictures on Facebook and we started the family prayer jar. Each
time we moved and I needed more and more help
physically and we didn’t live near our immediate family. Our friends
became our family too. I started to add pictures to the jar and now we
just add the new Christmas cards every year. It’s a fun thing to do
with my family. Hopefully it shows my kids the
importance of prayer for those we love in our lives. Each time we pull
out a card we are reminded of God‘s provision and His great love for us.
Our family is reminded of the body of Christ and how we all need each
other. My prayer for you is that you will
be reminded of many of the ways God has provided. Make a list and when
you feel discouraged you can read it and remind yourself of God‘s great
love for you. My prayer for you also is that you will find a friend who
points you to Jesus. When you do, you in
turn, will be able to be this kind of friend to others.
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.”
Ecclesiastes 4:9 ESV
“Counting Every Blessing” by Rend Collective
No comments:
Post a Comment