2009, the year of hope

Baby New Year has arrived, bouncing with energy and brimming with hope. Hope, the universal truth to which all men cling. It is with hope that the soldiers wait for a cease fire. It is with hope that the unemployed search for jobs. It is with hope that the hungry brace themselves against the cold as they wait in soup kitchen lines. It is with hope that America awaits Obama's presidency. Hope, the light that makes the dark nights just slightly brighter. Hope, the thing that Jesus Christ gives to each of us. Jesus told us "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10b). So many times we look around at our circumstances as an individual, as a group or as a nation and think that it is hopeless. Nothing could be further from the truth. Have life to the full! It is time for us as God's children to quit begging for table scraps from this world and do what Christ has told us to do. We need to look up for our hope. We must take our eyes off of the surroundings with it's ugliness and temporary moments and stare intently into the eyes of our Savior for our hope. It is through faith in Him that we find our true hope and in finding our true hope, we find life...to the full.

Looking forward to a full 2009 with you,
Angie

I resolve to....make no resolutions!

Let me be the first to wish you a happy new year!

New Year's Eve, the night we do everything bad for us so that tomorrow we will have something to regret and resolve never to do again. Well, this year, I am breaking with the tradition. Oh, I'll still have black-eyed peas and collard greens for lunch tomorrow, that's a given. What I'm not going to do is make any resolutions. The very fact that a resolution depends on our own will power should tell us that most of them will be broken before the end of the day! This year, I plan on making a to do list. I know what you're thinking...'Not another thing that I have to do PLEASE!', but this is different. No, this list is to help us remember how much fun life can be. This year, I plan on enjoying each moment instead of wishing my life away. No more hoping for Fridays when Mondays can hold their own joys also. Check back tomorrow and see what kinds of things I've come up with and see if you'd like to add some or all of them to your 2009 to do list also!

Angie

2009? Already?

As the Christmas week comes to an end, I can't help but think about the new year. 2009! Wow! It's hard to realize that a new year is already upon us. With every "new", God always us a do over. Every new minute, new hour, new day, new week, new month, new year always us the Christ-given privilege of grace. His mercies are new every day. We, as humans, hold on to yesterday's mercies as if God cannot be counted on to be there the next day. The ironic thing is that as we hold on to yesterday, fearing what tomorrow may hold, God is already there. He is never surprised by what we do or don't do. He is never caught off guard by something we ask of Him. No "new" surprises Him. As we look forward to 2009 with excitement and some trepidation due to the economy and new presidency, God is already there, waiting. What's He waiting for, you may ask. Us. His children. Our trust. He waits for us to believe and rely on Him in every second of every day of every week of every month in every year. As 2009 quickly approaches, place your future in His hands. After all, He already knows what the future holds...He's already there!

In His palms,
Angie