A New Year

The last day of the year.  Wow.  I, personally, love a new year.  A fresh start.  A time to reflect, change behavior or attitudes or actions (or all of the above) and move on in life to new and exciting adventures.  You know, I always hope for new and exciting adventures in a new year, but the truth is–we don’t really know what the new year has in store for us.  The Lord has orchestrated beautifully my new devotion book and the timing of a New Year.  I started JOHN: The Beloved Disciple a few days ago.  It is by Beth Moore, but it is different than her other studies.  The questions she asked were: “At this season of your life, what do you sense you need most: preparation for a fresh work of God? Repair from a tear? Restoration from a fall?” AND “How could you demonstrate your willingness to follow Him faithfully into whatever He knows is next for you?”    For me,  I feel I need a major re-focus on listening to God daily through His Word and a meditation upon the Scriptures.   Things around here are so very busy.  It isn’t anything crazy like running the roads or filling our calendar with unnecessary stuff.  It IS a husband (who works full-time and is building our house full-time, who also teaches Sunday School every week and all that it entails), a 4 year old Ruby who is growing up so quickly and is very independent, yet still needs so much, a 3 year old Molly who pooped in 4 pair of panties today (what in the world???!!!!) and who still struggles to talk normal, and instead chooses a horrible whiney voice, an almost 2 year old Mack who never stops-ever and still needs to even be fed a lot of times.  All these people wear clothes every day , need food a few times a day, a couple still need help with wiping the hiney, and on and on and on it all goes.  Don’t get me wrong, I know I am doing just what I was made to do—I love being home with the kids and I couldn’t have asked for a better husband—but neither of those things take away from the fact that the day is full, to say the least.  

So, as I sat with my Bible open and listening to the Lord….I was overwhelmed the fact that He knows me.  He knows where I am now.  He knows who I am now.  He knows what the new year brings.  He knows who He wants me to become in this new year and in whatever He brings into my life.  And what is even more amazing is that as I wish and hope for some new adventures in 2009, the Lord wants to give me a new adventure—-it could be the worst thing that I think could happen or it could be the best thing I could imagine—either way, with HIM, it promises to be a great adventure.

II Timothy 2:21 “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”

I definitely want to rid my life of the natural flesh and the sin that hinders me from being all God wants me to be.  It can be overwhelming to think about.  So as I answered the question about how I could demonstrate my willingness to follow Him faithfully into whatever He knows is next for me, I wrote “daily get alone with Him, away from the busyness and listen to Him and obey day in and day out.”  A lot easier to write than to do.