As the new year approaches it is a time for many to look back at the year and reflect and to look towards the new year with anticipation and hope. For me 2011 was full of answered prayers, low lows and high highs. 2011 is the year my husband and I paid off our debt, only to be flat broke 2 months later when he got let go from his job. It is the year we learned what it is like to be on government aide, but also what it is like to provide support to others. 2011 broke us and built us up. Its the year the lord blessed us with #3 and my husbands dream job with a paycheck to match (at least in our eyes anyway!). 2011 gave us a new church, new friends, and new depths within our faiths. 2011 was the year we saw the lord in abundance over and over and over again! For me 2012 is a year of much to look forward time. Time spent with my sweet boys, and celebrating 5 years of marriage! Its a year of saving for our future house. Its also the year i’ve claimed the word “Joy” to define. I’m searching for joy in my family, my kids, my marriage, Joy in all I do; But also the year i’m looking for God to redeem the moments i have allowed to rob me of my Joy and in return give it back to me.
I shared before that at christmas every year my husband’s grandmother passes a round a can full of little scrolls. each scroll has on it a verse that she has prayed for and over. Last year the word i claimed was abundance. I wanted to see God Abundantly. I want to see him show in our finances abundantly, I want to see him in my marraige and parenting, and I want to see him in my day to day. Some of the places i desired to see him seemed impossible. Circumstances looked at with the naked eye looked impossible, our paychecks didn’t seem to stretch far enough, the loss of the Job seemed hopeless, days seemed long and never ending and yet they didn’t seem to provide the time of solitude and quiet that was needed. But the verse that i received on christmas read “Do not become discouraged! Your situation may seem impossible in the natural. But if you put your hope in me, I am able to change your circumstances. Nothing is impossible if you only believe. Psalm 42:5 and Mark 9:23″; and so i claimed abundance as my word. and I prayed with expectation that God would show up for beyond what i could imagine’ and he did! I have a lot to be thankful for and am greatfull that what seemed impossible in the natural is possible for a God that loves me!
While i still am seeking is prescence to complete what he has started this year I am now claiming the word joy for this year as i said. I claimed it a few weeks back during a moms group conversation, and then again during services on a sunday. I’ve prayed it over and over again in my journal these last few weeks as i wrote out the many blessings the lord has given me. and Then on Christmas i received my scroll and I know the lord has heard my prayer, and I believe that he will answer it in the same abundance as he did last year!
My promise for 2011 from the lord “You will forget your misery; it will be like water flowing away. your life will be brighter than the noonday; even darkness will be as bright as morning.” Job 11:16, 17
Thank you lord for being true to your word, faithful to provide, to answer, and to love. I look forward to 2012 and the JOY it brings.
