New Year’s Wishes

candle-2992645_960_720 PixabayIt’s hard to believe we’re nearing the end of January 2018. While the year is no longer brand new, it’s new-ish. So Happy New Year! I have a wish list for you this year. But first, I must express my gratitude.

Thank you for being there. Your faithful presence amazes me, especially when there are large gaps between posts. Your words of encouragement have been much appreciated as well. You have allowed me to ‘be real’ even when my ‘real’ was ridiculous; and you’ve thanked me for it. So, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

New Year’s Wish List

Here are the promised wishes and I pray they will come true for you this year. I wish you…

  • Wisdom; that pure, peaceable, gentle stuff of heaven that judges rightly and without partiality or hypocrisy.
  • Excellence in all your endeavors. Not that excellence itself would be your god but rather your goal, and the manner with which you serve your God.
  • Grace- That it would be extended to you in your failures and would be extended when others fail you.
  • Passion– That you would live, love and serve with passion; because life is too short and the cause too great to merely go through the motions.
  • Friendship– That your friendships would be deeply rooted and widely spread and that there would always be room in your heart for just one more.
  • A Good Fight– There are hurting, helpless, hopeless, homeless and voiceless people. Find your courage, take up the gauntlet and stand up, pray up, pay up and speak up. Fight the good fight of faith.
  • Love– Love one another with pure hearts, fervently. Above all, love the One who first loved us and gave the last full measure of devotion to prove that love. This is the banner we take into the world and by this will all men know we are His disciples indeed.

I pray that 2018 will be a fabulous year. But if it’s to be our final year, I pray it be our finest year.

God bless you and keep you,

Roxanne

Picture compliments of Pixabay, Creative Commons CC0

Hope for the New Year

dandelion-1545407_960_720Words fail me as I offer this brief New Year’s greeting. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have shared some of life’s lessons with you in 2016 and for the encouragement you’ve given me. Writing has certainly been a challenge and I have learned many things.

We began the year with cancer, casts and crutches and ended walking unencumbered and cancer-free. Through it all I found that God is faithful (in our wounding & our healing) and that He does all things well.

Hope for 2017
Let us move forward into this New Year with hope. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil. Hebrews 6:19. Will there be failures? That’s a certainty. But we should not fear these failures, for we know they will be met by a compassionate heavenly Father, providing fresh mercy with each new day. Lamentations 3:22-24 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 

There are many exciting days ahead; beautiful, unnerving, wearisome and wonderful days. Do you worry about what’s in store for this New Year? Wonder if you’re going to make it or how? Rest assured that you can make it through for we are promised, But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31.

Happy New Year.

God bless you and keep you,

Roxanne

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. ® Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Photo compliments of Pixabay Creative Commons CC0.