A New Beginning

2018 has faded into the pages of history. A brand new year is dawning. This is a time when many people reset their priorities and make resolutions. Most do not keep them. Soon gym memberships will increase with the new comers. The gym veterans know that for a couple of months it will be crowded but the resolve usually fades away in time and things go back to normal.

Every year people look forward to the new year. They are optimistic. Traditionally people eat black eyed peas for good luck. I do not. I hated those peas as a child and I will not give into silly superstitions invented by man in vain.

As 2019 unfolds my trust is the LORD. My hope is the LORD. It doesn't matter what is ahead.  If I seek Him and abide in Him I can endure. 2018, 2017, 2016 and several years previous were tough years for us. Financially lean years. Sorrowful years. Years of very little fruit. Yet we made it. I did not stay up to ring in the new year. I went to bed that night by 7:30. I am glad to wave goodbye to 2018 and hope 2019 is better. I have lived long enough to know there are not trouble free years. Trials will surely come. I bring many from last year that have not been resolved as of yet and new wills will surface.

So this year is a new beginning. What verse do I want to pray over my family this year?What verse do I want to claim over my family for 2019.  I no more than typed out those questions than a passage came to mind.

Psalm 27:13 (NASB)
13  I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.

This is not vain hope. This is not silly superstition. This is taking the word of God and clinging to it as I start a new year. This is dismissing doubts, desires to give up, or despair. Instead, I believe. I believe God is good. I believe He is sovereign. I believe He has plans. I believe God loves me. I believe I will see His goodness in this year. I don't know what it will look like. I do not how or when His blessings will come. I choose to believe that He will show Himself faithful in every situation. I am not necessarily trusting for an easy year. Easy years do not grow faith. It is in the forge of fires that faith is built. It is in the tough times we lean on God the most and see Him work mightily on our behalves.

I don't know what 2019 holds. I am comforted that I know who holds 2019. A new beginning. May we take up our Bibles and the shield of faith and start our journey. Who knows where God will bring us at this time next year.