I couldn't let this day go by without posting one last word for the year.
So I leave you with these thoughts....
This year has had so many wonderful moments in it:
A great year for traveling to see dear friends and family-- from Michigan to Washington (and Texas in between.)
It's been a year of blessings: finding good renters for our Arizona house; family members making it through surgeries and accidents without too many complications. There have been engagements and weddings and births.
Its been a year of growth: creatively, personally, spiritually and physically.
Its been a year for re-connecting with friends I love.
It's been a year for good things.
Its also been difficult...
Two dear friends lost children this year.
Three of my friends lost a parent...all to cancer.
I've got people I love who are struggling in their marriages.
Some friends have dealt with unexpected health issues, some with chronic illness.
There have been messes, some of my own making.
Yes, there has been unimaginable joy and deep, deep, sorrow.
Sometimes, when the weather get colder and the days get longer, the sorrow is what lingers in my mind... My heart... My focus...
Until I read this:
One day we shall see that nothing - literally nothing- that could have increased our eternal happiness has been denied us and that nothing - literally nothing - that could have reduced that happiness has been left with us.
-J.I.PackerGod is in control. In 2009. In 2010.
As I look back at all the sorrows and blessings of the year that has past. I am reminded that life isn't temporal, there's so much more...but in the meantime we have a full life to live, and we aren't left to ourselves in times of joy or sorrow:
In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Romans 8:37
I am humbled and grateful as I look to the year ahead, with trembling anticipation, knowing whatever comes, blessing or sorrow, I can hold Gods truth close to my heart.
I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers,
neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39
One day we shall see....
14 comments:
This is a beautiful post, Kellie. I can't wait to see what the New Year brings... good and bad. Blessings!
Wonderful tribute to Him who is neither surprised by joy, nor new to suffering. Lurve you, & praying calmer seas for weary travelers. Xxxooo
*sigh* what a beautiful farewell to they year in which I met you....
that counts as one of my biggest blessings!
GREAT QUOTE by J. I. Packer. Good stuff.
And the verse in Romans ... those are the ones God used to draw me to Himself. Reading those (8:38-39) finally convinced me that even I cannot keep myself from His great love for me. He is so good - isn't He? Overwhelmingly so.
Always blessed to visit you here...and multiply that blessing ten fold when I met you IRL!
Happy New Year to you and your sweet family!
Your post touched me where I needed touching. Lovely! New Year blessings to you and yours!
What a wonderful way to start the New Year! It is such an encouragement & a great reminder that God IS in control & nothing catches Him by surprise.
One of my highlights was meeting you IRL & I look forward to seeing more of you (I'd still love to come meet Clinton one day...)
Amen.
What a wonderful post. I hope this new year provides better memories for you and your friends. :)
Happy New Year sweet friend!
It's going to be a good year - Looking forward to spending time with you!
Excited to see what this year and decade holds for all of us.
Thank you for this post. Exactly what I needed to hear today.
That was so beautifully said. I loved that quote.
Beautiful words, Kellie.
2009 was a year of many sorrows for me. Yet I've come to realize that joy is more fully experienced for me because of the sorrow.
Blessings to you in 2010! Wouldn't it be wonderful if it was the year we got to meet irl?
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