Thankful for 2013!

I know, I know! This post is a week overdue… but I just had to share it sometime! 🙂

The last week of December 2013 was a good one. I had the week off work, and we were spending it away from home. It was a week filled with loud music, Christmas lights, an abundance of food, wedding festivities, meeting extended family, long journeys, the passing of a loved one…

We were back home on 31st morning so we could ring in the new year with our church family. I was so glad that the first words out of my mouth this year were praises to the Lord!

So, anyway… I spent a lot of time in God’s presence during the last week of December. Journal in hand, I spent my mornings talking to God and listening to Him while the rest of the family slept in. {Precious moments!}

I started writing down everything I was thankful to God for in the year 2013. It was a blissful time of looking back and being grateful for things such as:

1. Our family’s health
2. My husband’s ministry
3. My ministry
4. The kids’ education
5. My work at Clothed In Scarlet
6. Our finances
7. Books I’ve read
8. The strength to persevere
9. Fellowship with friends
10. Six years of being a wife and mother

… and a whole lot more I didn’t jot down. Sure there were tons of things that didn’t work out as I’d planned last year. Not everything was good, but I’m so glad our God has promised to work everything out for good!

As I sat recounting my blessings, I realized that it was my perspective that mattered. I could choose to be thankful for the good and the bad – and the bad might work out for good anyway!

I do not know how 2013 was for you. It might have been a great year… but perhaps it could have been better. No matter what you went through last year, it’s time to start afresh now… but not without the hope you have in Jesus.

It might be a smooth road ahead, it might be a rocky one… but be encouraged that God is with you. He has walked with you into 2014, and He will lead you right through it. Walk on in faith!

I pray 2014 is your best year yet!

Have a blessed year!