A Year of Hope...
Well we are in the 3rd week of January! I almost have my Christmas decorations put away...still have a few pieces of garland and one or two boxes laying around that need to be put in the storage shed. It is on my list of "To Do" items!
This Christmas season was packed with meaning for me...from Advent on through. My family has been through and is still going through a lot of changes. During my meditations during Advent I felt God's presence all around me. He graced us with a peace and joy that we have needed. There was an excitement about life, a hope focused on the birth of Christ that spilled over into my life...a hope of the life that is ahead.
In a few weeks we will be blessed with our first grandchild...a brand new tiny life, a baby boy, a child not born in a stable but still such a gift to us. For my husband and I another new life that is a part of us. For my son and daughter a miracle that flows out of their love and commitment to each other. For our daughter a nephew that she can love and spoil...another generation of blessings and hope...hope and joy of the life ahead for us all!
And then, in just a little less than 3 months, my daughter's wedding. As it is with a new baby so it is with a wedding...hope, joy, love and so much of it! Two people becoming one flesh under the umbrella of Christ to live out their lives together with all their dreams ahead of them! There is so much hope and joy in what they will experience together and, as a team, what they will be able to accomplish with God's grace. God has bless them and us with so much hope and joy in the life ahead for us all!
The season of Advent and Christmas passed so swiftly but for me was profound. I felt, at every turn, God was reminding me that "my lot was secure"...that He had brought us through so much so that we could experience a deepness...a hope and joy that for so many escapes them. Hope and joy that we have needed, and in turn prayed for, fought for, pleaded for.
As I work my way through January and the coming months, all my "to do's", and baby and wedding details, I look eagerly to the season of Lent and another story of hope, joy, and new life. I am grateful to my Lord and Creator for life...all the lives around me and the hope and joy that springs from new beginnings!
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:4-9
This Christmas season was packed with meaning for me...from Advent on through. My family has been through and is still going through a lot of changes. During my meditations during Advent I felt God's presence all around me. He graced us with a peace and joy that we have needed. There was an excitement about life, a hope focused on the birth of Christ that spilled over into my life...a hope of the life that is ahead.
In a few weeks we will be blessed with our first grandchild...a brand new tiny life, a baby boy, a child not born in a stable but still such a gift to us. For my husband and I another new life that is a part of us. For my son and daughter a miracle that flows out of their love and commitment to each other. For our daughter a nephew that she can love and spoil...another generation of blessings and hope...hope and joy of the life ahead for us all!
And then, in just a little less than 3 months, my daughter's wedding. As it is with a new baby so it is with a wedding...hope, joy, love and so much of it! Two people becoming one flesh under the umbrella of Christ to live out their lives together with all their dreams ahead of them! There is so much hope and joy in what they will experience together and, as a team, what they will be able to accomplish with God's grace. God has bless them and us with so much hope and joy in the life ahead for us all!
The season of Advent and Christmas passed so swiftly but for me was profound. I felt, at every turn, God was reminding me that "my lot was secure"...that He had brought us through so much so that we could experience a deepness...a hope and joy that for so many escapes them. Hope and joy that we have needed, and in turn prayed for, fought for, pleaded for.
As I work my way through January and the coming months, all my "to do's", and baby and wedding details, I look eagerly to the season of Lent and another story of hope, joy, and new life. I am grateful to my Lord and Creator for life...all the lives around me and the hope and joy that springs from new beginnings!
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:4-9
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