New Year... New Life

2013 is shaping up to be a year full of anticipation for many.  I know of couples planning for a new life as husband and wife, others looking forward to new life as parents for the first time, and even more just looking to welcome a second or third child into their family.  My prayer for the New Year is for a blessed New Life for all. 

Whether it be a new life season, or a new life in Christ, times of change evoke strong feelings.  In 2012 God's brought our family through a pretty wide range of feelings and transition.  We started the year saying goodbye to two uncles and a grandfather, walked through our second miscarriage, wished many friends well as they left to start their own new seasons, and managed to re-rent our home in Texas from a thousand miles away.  Through each  transition a choice exists, to conform to the response the world would expect from change, or to be transformed as you allow God to renew your way of thinking.  We've been blessed in the past couple years to be surrounded by a community that challenges us to transform, and for that I'm thankful.

I'm praying as we enter 2013, myself along with everyone else can release feelings of anxiety we hold over situations we cannot control, that we forgive past hurts and release any bitterness or resentment that stem from them.  I pray our eyes can be opened to the needs of others we encounter, and the blessings we've already been given, rather than being jealous of the blessings we perceive others to have and our eyes blinded but what we think we lack.  I pray for God's protection over the innocent, the unborn, the abused, and the unwanted, that He provide as only He can.  I'm praying for the lives to be born, and those needing to be reborn, and for the grace we ALL will need to figure out how to deal with all this transition.  There is a whole lot wrong with the World, but I'm praying in 2013 we can focus on what is right, on life, and light, and hope.

"Finally, brothers and sisters, (as we exit 2012) whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." Phil 4:8

Don't dwell on the negatives from 2012 and look forward to 2013 with this promise in mind: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope". Jer 29:11.

Happy New Year!