Looking back...and forward!

Another year has ended. A hard year. A wonderful year. I will never forget 2012.
As time goes on...priorities change. I only posted 7 times in the entire year and...I missed it. But I don't regret the things that made me busy this year or wish that things were different.
You see, God works in mysterious ways, so far above our own that we don't understand much of the time. At least for me, the times I get a glimpse of WHY are fewer than the times I must simply have faith without seeing at all.
This year, I went through the greatest trial thus far in my life. I wondered if God was really real. If  He was really in control. If He was really good. And if so...WHY do things like this happen?
This year, I have experienced some of the greatest joy thus far in my life. I wondered how I could ever have doubted God. I delighted in the blessings that I don't deserve. I marvelled that such a feeling of peace and joy could really be experienced. And if so...WHY do things like this happen?

GOD IS GOOD. 
That really is the story of this year for me. Life is hard! But life is beautiful and rewarding, because in the darkest alleys, on the sparkling beaches, and in the deep, cool forest...God remains the same.
His plan is always to make us more like His Son Jesus Christ so we can bring glory to Him. Sometimes He uses times of pain and trial. Sometimes times of blessing and joy. Even when we are faithless, He remains faithful, He cannot deny Himself!

I'm excited for 2013. I started it off next to my dear best friend, with many wonderful friends who love the Lord! I'm enjoying some time with my beloved family before school starts up again next week.
I honestly don't know what this year holds for me. There will probably be times of frustration and waiting. Of trusting and hoping. Of laughing and singing. Of being still before the Lord.
My prayer is that no matter what happens...I will make the most of every moment and that next year at this time...I will look more like Christ.

Ponderings...

2011 sounds rather...surreal. I really don't know what this year will hold. Sure, I have my plans, but I know that those may change and it is the Lord who holds the guidebook and determines my steps.
In ten years, will I look back at this year as one of great joy? Sorrow? Achievement? Growth?  Disappointments? I cannot know. But I know the One who holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because HE LIVES!
When my family was singing in the new year together, we sang "May the mind of Christ my Savior." It has become one of my favorite songs, really, a prayer from my heart to Adonai's ear. May this song be our prayer as we embark on a new year, in which He knows every detail that will take place!

May the mind of Christ, my Savior,
Live in me from day to day,
By His love and power controlling
All I do and say.

May the Word of God dwell richly
In my heart from hour to hour,
So that all may see I triumph
Only through His power.

May the peace of God my Father
Rule my life in everything,
That I may be calm to comfort
Sick and sorrowing.

May the love of Jesus fill me
As the waters fill the sea;
Him exalting, self abasing,
This is victory.

May I run the race before me,
Strong and brave to face the foe,
Looking only unto Jesus
As I onward go.

May His beauty rest upon me,
As I seek the lost to win,
And may they forget the channel,
Seeing only Him.

2010: A Year of Blessing...

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I’ll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

---

So many powerful thoughts in this song, so relevant to thoughts of the past year and the future year! How I long to be fixed upon His love! How prone am I to wander, and how I feel it! Bind me to Thee with Thy goodness, O my God! Here I raise my Ebenezer (song of victory)--by THY help I've come this far, it's due to no merit of mine!  Come my Lord, no longer tarry...carry me away to my home!

Wouldn't it wonderful if the Lord would come this year???????

Happy 2011 friends!  Let us abide in Him, that when He appears we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming!

New Year Resolutions?

About this time of year, the topic of new year resolutions always comes up.  What will it be, giving up pop, losing weight, reading through the Bible?  To tell the truth, I have never been a fan of these resolutions.  The main reason is that they are usually broken by March (if you make it that long)!

In the past year, God has done alot in my heart and life, but it has certainly not been the result of a New Year resolution. On the contrary, it had nothing to do with me or my resolve! If I resolve to change myself somehow...I will fail.  God doesn't need ME to make up my mind to work super hard and try to change something in my life, He wants me pliable in His hand.

But that doesn't mean I shouldn't look at the past year and evaluate things that need to change. But the change needs to be committed to God and for His glory, not for my own peace of mind or standing among my peers.

A major area in my life that needs to change is my prayer life.  It's one of those things that I have been "working on" for so many years.  I still lose focus after five or ten minutes, and I feel like I'm saying the same thing over and over.  "Lord, teach me to pray! Give me a heart and desire to talk to you like my Friend and Father and let me burn with Your praise!"

Happy New Year everyone! May we shine for Christ this year! And may the Lord do whatever necessary to draw us closer to Him this year!