As I look back over the past year--and all the pain and heartache, interwoven with joy and numerous blessings, that came with it--I cannot pretend to understand this story God has been weaving in my life. There are so many things that don't make sense to me...and yet I know that God continues to reap blossoms of growth and new life from my bleeding heart.
After all this past year has held, I would be lying if I said I am free of apprehension as I look toward 2012. However, I know that nothing--neither life nor death, sickness nor the best of health, neither friendship nor relationships lost, poverty nor a bounty of blessings--NOTHING can move me from the hand of God. It is in this confidence that I move into 2012.
I have been asking God what He has for me this next year, and although He has not given me the road map of 2012 {I'd rather Him keep it anyway}, I have heard His still, small voice stirring in the deep places of my heart:
Be still and know that I am God.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
I ask, "God, what do you want from me in the next 12 months?"
He says, I want you to listen.
This world needs more people who are willing to listen to the heart of God. And although I am no master of this discipline (I am rather quite the novice), I want so desperately to hear. It is for this reason I am taking a year off from blogging. No, this is not a New Year's resolution...this is the result of much prayer and will be a daily choice to spend in different ways the time God so graciously gives me.
I don't know that I ever would choose to leave this writing place for any lesser task or calling, and I do sincerely believe that I will be back...for surely it was God who gave me this love of writing! I will most certainly miss this empty screen filling with my heart, although I want you to know that I will look forward to keeping up, periodically, with the writing and lives of those of you whose words have touched my life.
Please take the time today to reflect upon all that God has done for you in the past year...and how He might lead you in 2012.
Much love, friends, and Happy New Year!
From Luke 2:
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Glory to God and on earth...peace. The end of hostility between man and God. Freedom from strife. Peace.
I hear that word--peace--and I wonder. Where? How? How, when people cease living and choose dying? How, when money squeezes tight and families fall apart? How, when children cry alone at night, without family, without hope? Peace? ...how?
And yet that's why Jesus came, right? For peace. For reunification between God and mankind.
Once again, as the remembrance of that birth draws near, I sit still and listen. I sit with the shepherds in that long-ago field and cry out with the angels, "Glory to God!" And I whisper with desperation, "Please, God! Bring your peace!" Bring peace to this broken world.
"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).
Even as I sit, I hear His gentle whisper in response: "Seek peace and pursue it" (Psalm 34:14).
He is here. He is among us...God incarnate. The Prince of Peace. I wonder, "Where is peace?" And he answers:
I am here.
THAT, my friends, is good news.
This Christmas, I am crying for a deeper longing to seek and pursue the Prince of Peace...to facilitate the collision of this world's brokenness with the very heart of God.
Wishing you a very joyful celebration of the Lord's birth...And may you find yourself seeking and pursuing the Prince of Peace this Christmas season.
Please, please take one minute out of your day to help my friends. They are in the process of adopting their 3-year-old daughter, who has been with them pretty much since her birth, from Kenya, but the process is taking longer than expected. Eden's mom had to come back to the States for the birth of their 3rd child, while Eden is still in Kenya with her dad. They just want to be reunited for Christmas and the birth of her little sister! Below is a note of explanation from Eden's grandma, and the link to a petition for Eden's cause. Please take a minute to sign it...it literally just takes a minute! Thank you so much!
Please, please, PLEASE take 3 minutes out of your day to sign this petition. As many of you know, my beautiful granddaughter, Eden, is in the process of being adopted from Kenya. The process is taking far longer than it should; and Eden is now separated from her brother, A*, and her mother (my daughter, M*, who is now in the US preparing to give birth to their 3rd child in January) while staying in Kenya with her dad, B*. The stress of the separation is tough for the whole family, but especially for 3 year-old Eden. PLEASE POST THIS LINK AS YOUR STATUS TO HELP BRING HER BACK BY CHRISTMAS. If you have any contacts that you think could help Eden's cause please let me know. Thank you
http://www.change.org/petitions/us-citizenship-and-immigration-service-uscis-expedited-humanitarian-parole-for-baby-eden-bring-her-home-by-christmas
