Learning Lessons From 2011....

 

There is something about the dying days of each December that finds each of us reflecting on the past and wondering about the future. I find myself remembering the same day the previous year and wondering if I had known what was ahead in the year that has just ended, how I would have felt. Would I have been fearful if I knew that at some point I would be seriously ill and yet God would pull me through by his grace? If I had seen the highs and the lows and known how the Lords incredible grace would reach out to me and lift me to heights I had not imagined possible, would I have approached the year with more excitement, gratitude, hope and faith? If I could have watched on a mental screen, every verbal exchange, kind word spoken or received, the arguments, the tears the smiles, the happiness and sadness, how would I have approached 2011?

So now as 2011 comes to an end and a new year begins… what are the lessons I have learnt along the way…?

I have learnt that getting older is like climbing a ladder, with each rung you become more sure footed, occasionally you look down at how far you have come and while you can't quite explain how it happened, you know somehow you have learnt to climb faster, harder,  keeping your eye on the prize above

I have learnt that people may come and go but love always stays the same and that once you love, truly and fully you never ever stop even when the objects of your affection are so far away and out of sight….

I learnt that sadly, power and money corrupts, and absolute power and ill-gotten gains corrupts absolutely, leaving a trail of broken hearts, destruction and tears in its wake and changing people you love into people you do not recognise.

I have learnt that our God is good all the time, he really is…that He really did know me before I was formed in my mothers womb and that His timing and his plans for me are perfect. I am still learning everyday to walk and trust in that completely but then He knows that too.

I have learnt that what really counts is how much you loved and you were loved, the hands you held along the way, the ones that held yours, the smiles you made happen, the tears you dried and those that dried yours. I have learnt that true riches…true wealth cannot be affected by fluctuating interest rates or world markets, that true wealth can never be stolen away unless its thrown carelessly away.

I have learnt that no one can tell what tomorrow holds and while we live in hope and faith for each day a actually worrying about the future is of no avail but working hard and trusting in He who made the mountains and the valleys is much more powerful and worthy of my time.

I have come to appreciate how much I am loved, how blessed I am to have my family (close and far), my friends, my work, my skills, talents and all the other things that make my life full and abundant

Finally I have learnt that love, true love is really as defined by Paul: it is patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, does not dishonor others, is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (Cor 12)

Our Lord asked us to seek first the kingdom of God and all else will be added to us… So this year, as 2011 dies and 2012 is born, I am determined to spend this year finding and giving love, to seek His kingdom and His will, to carry him inside me everywhere I go. I don’t know how much I will earn next year, how much I will spend, what the markets or interest rates will do but I do know His love is constant and His word does not change and that he is able to do all things exceedingly well.

For today, for now...that is enough.

Sometimes I forget....

Sometimes in the midst of the days stresses and strains, I forget who I am in Christ...I forget that the old me passed away and that a new me has emerged, shaped and moulded by his ever wise and loving hands. When I see my Goliath's and hear their loud and fearful threats, i forget that the same God of David...the same God of Moses and Abraham, Joshua and Solomon is the God who promises me that He will never abandon or forsake me...sometimes I forget that He is my shepherd and I will not want because he leads me beside still waters and the greenest of meadows. It is so easy to do, the papers, tv, words spoken in shops in corridors speak of gloomy times, of the fears ahead of pain, illness and death. So easy to forget in the light of things we see, that faith is the belief in things unseen yet believed.
So when I get to this place of forgetfulness that comes spiced with old fears, forgotten regrets I realise that I need to take it back to the beginning, to find my way back to the cross and remember the sacrifice that Jesus made so that I may never be afraid again....
And so the word for today ...in my new and undesigned blog....is as written in Romans 8.33 - 38

"what then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?.......Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written .......... No, in all these things we are more than conquerers through Him who loved us..." and then perhaps one of my favourite declarations in verse 38-  "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present not the future, nor any powers, neither height not depth , nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Today Holy Spirit, Comforter and Friend.. help me not to forget who I am ...help me to look to Him who gives me strength and not the crashing waves or the wind and help me to remember that He is Lord of the storms and with one word..He can bid the most raging storm be still..and help me to remember to put Him first in all things, to live my life for him so that His will may be perfected through me..Help me not to forget....