faith and family | january 2018

Preparing Our Hearts for the New Year
 
I love the new year because it’s a fresh start.  No matter how hard the previous year was or how weary I feel, my heart cannot help but experience a sense of hope on January 1st and all that is to come.  The Lord has a host of plans and purposes for us that He will reveal to us this year. God says in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
 
He has things He wants to show us, teach us, and show others through us. He has gifts to give us and divine assignments for us. Each day of our lives has been planned long ago by God. Psalm 139:16b reminds us that “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
 
Additionally, the new year allows us an opportunity to reflect on the truth that we serve a God of new beginnings. He makes all things new. He takes the hardened heart of stone and replaces it with a new spirit. He is a God of creation, growth, and life.  Isaiah 43:19 reminds us that even in a season of change or drought, He is leading us.  “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”  
 
What a wonderful message to share with our little ones, as well. God has a specific plan for each new day of their lives, which He has ordained long before they were born. Let’s take time to remind them that the courses of their lives were purposely planned by God.  They can feel safe knowing that He walks through each day with them, and they are never alone.

Amy Mixson, Faith and Family Coordinator