Grace and Mercy 2009

New Years Eve... when the countdown begins of letting go of the current year, and bringing in the new year with great celebration and hope for better things to come. For some, this past year has been a year of struggle and hardship. For others, it has been the best year of their lives. For most of us it is a year that has brought both hardship and times of joy. Pain and sorrow are often intertwined with success and joy.

My husband and I took fruit baskets to our surrounding neighbors this year the week before Christmas. As we listened to each family recap their struggles this past year, we felt that we had shared a little part in their lives as we had prayed for them over the year. One man's wife had died with cancer. A wife had lost her husband due to an accidental death. He had been cleaning the gutters on there house and fallen. Another young couple struggled to raise a young family and plan for the future. He had been going to school as well as work. Other things had happened during the year. He said it was the hardest year they had experienced. Another neighbor is raising three sons without their father as he is working in another country.

This year, in our family, we saw renewed relationships that had been broken. We experienced the loss of a dear brother who died with lung cancer. We were in involved in two weddings of young ladies we had known since their birth. We tried to be an encouragement to the broken hearted. We have experienced sickness and healing. We had some great family times together with our children and grandchildren. We rejoiced at the birth of our new grandson.

If I could declare a theme for this past year... it would be "grace and mercy." If you could read my journal... it would describe in detail what God has done in my life in the year of 2009. If I could read your journal... it would probably describe much of the same. I have grown in grace and knowledge and I am so thankful for the Lord, His Word that guides me, for friends that encourage me. I am thankful for the freedom we have to serve and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We are a blessed people and nation.

As we leave 2009 behind... may you be blessed in your relationship and knowledge of the Lord Jesus in this coming year. May you grow in grace, and may His grace and beauty shine through you. May others want to know who He is because they have seen Him in you.

"All of us, with no covering on our faces, show the shining greatness of the Lord as in a mirror. All the time we are being changed to look like Him, with more and more of His shining- greatness. This change is from the Lord Who is the Spirit." 2 Corinthians 3:18

" I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ's return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation-- righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ--for this will bring much glory and praise to God." Philippians 1: 9-11