I just sat here and wrote out several beginnings to this blog...
...and then deleted them all.
It is really challenging to know what to say as this year draws to a close. Looking back on the past 364 days, I am amazed at what has transpired. So many life milestones...and yet here I am, feeling just the same as last new years eve.
How is it that I'm a whole year older, and I still feel like sometimes I haven't grown up very much at all?
How is it that I have learned and absorbed a ridiculous amount of information about God and then realize that I have barely scratched the surface of who he is?
How is it that I listen to the same songs with the same words and they still give me chills and speak to my heart?
How is it that I have experienced some really tough life changes and can still stand here today, ready to take on another year potentially full of more challenges, trials and heartbreak?
Oh wait, I know the answer to that one. Turns out, I have an incredibly faithful God who has kept me steady, stayed by my side and given me copious amounts of grace through it all.
So you know what? I can't wait for next year. Bring it on. I am so ready to take on the joys, challenges, change, routine, and everything else in between. Because I can totally do this. um... me and Him can totally do this. And it won't be from a place of striving or trying too hard or feeling restless and stressed. Because I am going to remember this:
"As this year draws to a close, receive My Peace. This is still your deepest need, and I, your Prince of Peace, long to pour Myself into your neediness. My abundance and your emptiness are a perfect match. I designed you to have no sufficiency of your own. I created you as a jar of clay, set apart for sacred use. I want you to be filled with My very Being, permeated through and through with Peace. Thank me for My peaceful Presence, regardless of your feelings. Whisper My Name in loving tenderness. My Peace, which lives continually in your spirit, will gradually work its way through your entire being.
Isaiah 9:6; 2 Corinthians 4:7; John 14:26-27."
[Jesus calling by sarah young, pg 382]
So may peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls the drought has dried
In His Blood and in His Body
In this Bread and in this Wine
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you
[r. mullins]
So as you close the chapter that was last year, and start on fresh blank pages that are 2012, peace be with you. May it fill your heart and overflow your soul. If you have known this peace before, may you be reminded of its refreshing and comforting power.
If you have never experienced this peace before, I pray that this year you can meet God. And on these fresh blank pages of the new year you can detail a story unlike one that your past chapters of life have ever seen before.
...and then deleted them all.
It is really challenging to know what to say as this year draws to a close. Looking back on the past 364 days, I am amazed at what has transpired. So many life milestones...and yet here I am, feeling just the same as last new years eve.
How is it that I'm a whole year older, and I still feel like sometimes I haven't grown up very much at all?
How is it that I have learned and absorbed a ridiculous amount of information about God and then realize that I have barely scratched the surface of who he is?
How is it that I listen to the same songs with the same words and they still give me chills and speak to my heart?
How is it that I have experienced some really tough life changes and can still stand here today, ready to take on another year potentially full of more challenges, trials and heartbreak?
Oh wait, I know the answer to that one. Turns out, I have an incredibly faithful God who has kept me steady, stayed by my side and given me copious amounts of grace through it all.
So you know what? I can't wait for next year. Bring it on. I am so ready to take on the joys, challenges, change, routine, and everything else in between. Because I can totally do this. um... me and Him can totally do this. And it won't be from a place of striving or trying too hard or feeling restless and stressed. Because I am going to remember this:
"As this year draws to a close, receive My Peace. This is still your deepest need, and I, your Prince of Peace, long to pour Myself into your neediness. My abundance and your emptiness are a perfect match. I designed you to have no sufficiency of your own. I created you as a jar of clay, set apart for sacred use. I want you to be filled with My very Being, permeated through and through with Peace. Thank me for My peaceful Presence, regardless of your feelings. Whisper My Name in loving tenderness. My Peace, which lives continually in your spirit, will gradually work its way through your entire being.
Isaiah 9:6; 2 Corinthians 4:7; John 14:26-27."
[Jesus calling by sarah young, pg 382]
So may peace rain down from Heaven
Like little pieces of the sky
Little keepers of the promise
Falling on these souls the drought has dried
In His Blood and in His Body
In this Bread and in this Wine
Peace to you
Peace of Christ to you
[r. mullins]
So as you close the chapter that was last year, and start on fresh blank pages that are 2012, peace be with you. May it fill your heart and overflow your soul. If you have known this peace before, may you be reminded of its refreshing and comforting power.
If you have never experienced this peace before, I pray that this year you can meet God. And on these fresh blank pages of the new year you can detail a story unlike one that your past chapters of life have ever seen before.
No comments:
Post a Comment