It's all over!!

2013, that is! It’s actually almost over; only hours stand between the old year and a fresh new one.  As I think about the old year, I have to admit, it has been a challenging one.  Probably, it has been so for all of us; time is change in itself, hours passing by that we cannot retrieve, so the question is – what do we have to show for 2013.

For me, the first half was about finishing well.  Every school day for a year, I lightened the shelves in my office and weighed the little table outside of it with books – resources from nearly thirty years of college ministry.  The books disappeared, and still I have tons that followed me home.

Not only was the first half about finishing well, it was about watching our grandson, who lived with us, get engaged, plan a wedding, graduate, get married and start a new life with a wife and a job.  And the nest was empty again, Jesse’s room becoming my home office.  My husband married Jesse and Kate at the family homestead, a wonderful day.

So, I prayed about how to fill my time and God answered. I taught a class at the public library and a monthly Seminary wives class.  Then the last two months of the year, I taught two online classes.  OH, if anyone thinks teaching online classes is a walk in the park, they haven’t done it.  But it was wonderful to meet my students in cyberspace from all over the country, and who ranged from 17-61 in age.

What have I learned?  God is faithful and blesses us daily, too often in ways that we don’t even see, because we aren’t looking. I learned again the beauty of unhurried times of prayer, not squeezed in between the busyness of school and work.  My appetite for God was stirred in new ways, and I attribute part of that to Andrew Murray’s book/devotional on prayer.  Every year I have tried to use a devotional on prayer, and I am looking forward to doing it again this year.  You can never learn enough about prayer by reading about it alone; you have to do it as well.

I have been so refreshed in prayer this year that I recognize again why the evil one does everything he can to convince us that little snatches here and there are enough.  I do believe that there are times in our lives, as new moms for instance, when little snatches are as good as it can get.  But I also believe that the more we cultivate an awareness of the presence of God, and prayer does that, the greater is our peace and joy and confidence in Him and His perfect will.

So, I wish you a Happy New Year, and a blessed New Year, a fresh start to write on the pages of the lives that God has given us.

photo from http://www.hdwallpapersinn.com/happy-new-year-pics.html