We Do Not Hope in a New Year
In Blog, hope, inspiration, Jesus 9 commentsJan 01
So many hopes for 2013…a bubbling inside of great hope that this year will be the year.
Dreams…that we will meet the goal, find the person, gain the desired.
Hopes…to be better, feel deeper, see the light at the end of last year’s can’t see our hand in front of our face blackest-black tunnel.
But there is nothing magical in a New Year. The calendar pages turning don’t bring a newfound power or formula for success or resistance to heartbreak that in the past, we knew.
We will face hard things this year, just as we did last. We will shed tears and smile and cringe and laugh loud and catch ourselves dreaming and choose whether or not to push them down, this year, again, or allow them to finally surface.
We will dance, if we let ourselves. Hug with strong squeezes instead of quick, patronizing pats. Say things and mean them. Seek to make broken things right.
And our God will be there. Just as He has been in the last year, the year before it, and all the ones that came and went first.
And though present, He will let us choose, again…if we will live in the open space that brings freedom and joy and fullness and yes, hope…or if we will choose comfort and known things and the settling into our same life.
My friends, we do not hope in a new calendar year. We hope in the Always Powerful One who every day of every year has the ability to make all things new.
What He will do in our life this year is a matter of what we ask Him and allow Him to do.
Today, this first day of 2013, I hope with you. But not because it’s a New Year.
Because He is the same God as He was before.
“May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!” [Romans 15:13 MSG]
[*Conversation: What is YOUR prayer for 2013?]
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My prayer for 2013: “But forget all that–it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.” Isaiah 43:18 NLT
My word for 2013 is ‘whole’.
Read ‘Happiness’ on page 166 in The Valley of Vision- that is my prayer for 2013.
Love your word for 2013.
And adore The Valley of Vision…great choices, friend. Be well in 2013, as always!
I just wrote something similar in my journal this morning. That while I feel excitement in the new year…I have a new chance every day to get things right, because God is always faithful.
My One Word for 2013 is Submission.
I will be posting my new year prayer on my blog later.
I needed to hear this. I just journaled yesterday about waiting for that “incredible” year. Since we’ve been married, there has been so much change and growth. I am waiting for that “one year” that will bring all the dreams we hope for. Then I realized all the good things God did this last year. Even in the hard times, He is always good. Just b/c I’m not getting my way in the moment, He is still good! As I prayed last night for the year to come, I couldn’t bring myself to ask for an “easy” year. I know we grow to be more like Him in the trials. We get to see His character in the hard moments. So I just pray that we will follow hard after Him…no matter where He leads. Still hopeful for dreams to come true, but more that our dreams will line up with His plans for us and what He will allow us to do for Him!
Thanks for your blog! Love you, girl!
My prayer for 2013 revolves around intimacy with God, freedom in the LORD, and a more perfect understanding of grace.
My one word for the year: release.
Happy New Year!
Well said! You’ve got the word Lisa.
My prayer is that this year I will be so far inside Our Father that I will be standing next to Jesus.
Joseph;
I pray you get there. Enjoy!
Monica
Lisa;
My prayer for 2013 is for God to make all things new and my word for this year is “new.”
Monica
A beautiful reminder. May we be buoyed up in hopeful expectation that God’s faithfulness will endure despite everything.