THOUGHTS ON THIS NEW YEAR'S EVE

Well, here I am- New Year's Eve. I needed to stop what I was doing  and write before it was 2013. I haven't written near what I had intended to this year. But that's how it goes. We get so busy with life we forget to stop and take time to reflect on that life we are living. I look back at 2012 with great thanksgiving to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There have been some valleys but also some mountaintops. There have many close calls but many more blessings! God has brought many that I know, friends and family members through illnesses, surgeries and cancer treatments. Some continue to fight these diseases and our prayers go with them. We saw the passing of  two aunts on my husband's side of the family. He has brought us safely through severe weather, drought, a Direcho that nearly devastated parts of Columbus and left many of us without power in over 100 degree weather for over a week.  But God is so faithful! We have all watched sadly as we have seen terrible things happen to people around us and far away- but they all seem so close- we have felt their pain and loss and hold them up in prayer.

I didn't get as much "accomplished" this year as I would have liked to. I did, however, follow the leading of the Lord and began volunteering at an assisted living/nursing facility in the fall. I dearly love those seniors and pray for them regularly as I go and minister to them at least once a week. It has filled a void in my life and gives me an outlet for the Spirit of God. But I am hoping that "things" were accomplished in my life spiritually this past year. I see change in myself- where God has brought me. No- I am not all that I want to be yet, but I am different than I was this time last year.

I am praying that 2013 finds me even more dedicated to my Savior. I found myself praying the other day that I would go over the "Spiritual Cliff". We have heard so much about the Fiscal Cliff, but there is a Spiritual Cliff that Christians NEED to go over. We need to let go of all those things that hold us back from serving Christ with our whole hearts. I could see myself going over that cliff- not holding on to the things I think bring security and comfort- and completely letting go over the cliff into the arms of Jesus! He is our safe hiding place in the time of trouble. If I seem to be a little more detached from earthly things this coming year, it's simply because my mind is infatuated with Jesus Christ. As a hymn writer once put it-- the "things" of this world I hope will continue to  grow dim in the light of His glory and grace. I want to see Jesus this coming year. I want to see Him in the Church and I want to see Him in me.

My prayer for 2013 is that my friends, family and those I have any contact with will come to know Jesus Christ as I have known Him for almost 42 years. Each year has only caused me to love Him more and want to serve Him even more. We are in a most glorious time. Things may seem dark- but with Jesus Christ-- we shine bright when we allow Him to have all of us. The Lord has given me verses to take me into the New Year- verses on humility and and emptying myself so that He can shine even brighter. "He must increase, but I must decrease" John 3:30.

I pray "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who beleive, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right handin the heavenly places." Ephesians 1:17-20