I don’t know what the next year will bring. Last year was difficult. Yet, I understand life is a mix of trials, challenges, and blessings. I’m already facing a few challenges.

How shall I dedicate my time besides writing and painting? I have family I can offer to help, but is that it?

 God sent Jeremiah 29:11.

 ^“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

In response, I need to keep my heart and my mind open to whatever his plan might be.

Another challenge is looming this coming summer. I must find a less expensive rental. This current one stretches my finances too thin. However, finding this one was difficult. How hard will the next one be? Will I even find another home for less rent?

God sent these two scriptures through coincidences I can’t ignore.

“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.” Exodus 23:20.

Then today, after a lengthy discussion with my son on the pros and cons of finding another home, this was my Bible verse of the day.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:1-3.

Jesus is talking about our heavenly home, but the timing of the scripture's appearance lends a secondary, personal message.

So, I face this coming new year, not with fear but with hope. God has brought me through every trial with more blessings than I can count.

In keeping with that, a friend shared this music video on Facebook. The lyrics are more eloquent than my words.

Michael Combs “Drinking From The Saucer”

 Happy New Year!

 

 

Made New

Image by Muneeb Khalid from Pixabay    

“If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

A new day and a New Year.  

The past is gone. Our slate has been wiped clean. Gone are the mistakes, the sorrows, and the hurts, unless we drag them along like old baggage. But that isn’t from God.

“Because I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sins I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12.

This day I choose to be made new, washed clean of yesterday’s sorrows, hurts, and mistakes. I may not know what the future holds. All I can see is today, an hour at a time — stepping-stones leading me toward the fulfillment of God’s plan for my life. But regardless of where my path leads, what sorrows I’ll endure, I can be sure the path will also be filled with great joy. God has told me so.

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing; that you may abound in hope, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13.

Happy New Year! 

  

A New Year

 

Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay 

A New Year. What challenges and blessings will we encounter? Only God knows.

However, it seems my new year is starting with a mixture already. I’ve been diagnosed with moderate chronic kidney disease. Oh, fun! Thankfully, diet, exercise, and medication changes can stop the progression. So that’s good news.

The diet makeover my doctor and the National Kidney Foundation recommend is The Dash Diet. It’s great for high blood pressure, kidneys, and diabetes, and is overall a good healthy lifestyle.  

I knew I needed to make dietary changes for some time but couldn’t stay motivated. Well, guess what? I’m motivated now.

I never liked much salt, but I’m amazed at how much sodium occurs naturally in so many foods, like honeydew. Never thought a melon would have sodium. Now, that I'm restricted to 1500 mg or less, I’m also thankful for so many no sodium added and low sodium options. The DaVita Kidney website also gave me lists of low sodium restaurant options so my husband and I can still enjoy dining out without jeopardizing my diet.

To keep my sanity and to help navigate this minefield of options, I’m especially thankful for the MyNetDiary app. It has The Dash Diet percentages options in their premium diet plans, and it does all the math for me. I can import recipes and tweak old ones and the app figures out the calories¸ fats, carbs, and sodium per serving. Same for canned, frozen, and packaged foods and restaurant meals. The bar code reader is an added bonus, cutting down on even more math and data input. My job is to be sure I’m eating the same amounts as the app suggests. Thank goodness for a food scale and measuring spoons!

The other surprise, I’m not hungry on this diet, nor do I feel deprived. Then, my motivation may have a big part in that. 😉

Rainbows are already showing up, symbols God has used in the past to encourage me during serious health issues. They have preceded cures from blood poisoning to breast cancer. I only need to follow my health care professionals’ advice and leave the rest in God's hands.  

As for the rest of the year, I expect other challenges, but they will be mixed with blessings, just like this one. Isn’t that life? One thing I can be sure of, with God, all things work toward my good.

How has your new year started out so far?

 

A New Year

With the New Year upon us, what is your wish, your desire for this new year? Any regrets over the old one?

As in a meme I saw on Facebook, I will plant the seeds for good things, water them with faith, and watch God's plan unfold. I have forgiven myself for the mistakes of last year with the vow to try not to repeat them. I will, no doubt, but it is the effort that counts in God's eyes.

Happy New Year!

A New Year's Prayer

Lord, lead me to toward a healthier lifestyle with diet and exercise.

Lord, lead me to write the books you inspire.

Lord, lead me in prayer for our world, our country, for all in desperate need of your help, and especially for those with whom I disagree.

Lord, lead me to acts of kindness toward all your creation without pausing to judge who is worthy and who is not.

Lord, lead me closer to you.

Amen.

Is It a New Year?

We have a clean slate, an unwritten story or is it a continuation of an old one?  The calendar may say it's new. Our lives may not. As with December 25th, New Year's Day is a man-made date, a designation on a calendar, merely a way of marking the passage of time. Isn't it?

Our minds are geared to think in absolutes, in finite numbers. Science has proven we cannot remain sane when deprived of a method of marking time, as knowing night from day. We then count the days, the weeks, the months and years. Every culture has a method of marking time.

We currently use the Gregorian, switching from the earlier Julian calendar. Both use celestial events in their calculations. However, the Gregorian is the more accurate when adding in a leap year, which is necessary to keep the calendar in alignment with the earth's rotation around the sun. This rotation is the basis for our year.

It took three hundred years to switch from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian. The first countries to change were in Europe and did so in 1582. The last country to adopt the calendar for civil use was Turkey in 1927. Only a few countries do not use this calendar: Afghanistan and Iran, which use the Persian calendar, Saudia Arabia, which uses the Islamic calendar, and Ethiopia which uses its own calendar. Other countries use the Gregorian as their official calendar in conjunction with their own, such as China.

Some other calendars are the Revised Julian, Jewish, Islamic, Persian, Mayan, Chinese, and Roman.

The year the Gregorian was implemented, ten days were removed from the calendar. For countries waiting longer, some lost as much as thirteen days from their old calendars. This reduction in days brought them into conjunction with the equinoxes.



Thus, we can say, by using the earth's rotation, along with lunar months, equinoxes, and seasons, we have a new year, fixed by physical, celestial events, not just a thought or attitude.

I raise a toast to this New Year. I hope yours is filled with blessings and enough challenges to keep you from being bored, but not enough to overwhelm you.

Happy New Year!

It's That Time of Year Again

This is sunrise from my office window, dawning a new day, a new month, and a new year. Was it a good year? Did I do what I had hoped, what I had planned?

I have to say it was a good year in terms of memorable events. Two more grand babies were born, one in June and one in September. Then in August the biggest life change, retirement.

Thus Far He Has Helped Us

Although there is nothing magical about January 1, as it is only a man made date on a calendar, we have over the centuries attributed it to new beginnings.  We make new resolutions, we plan, and we hope.

With so many changes in our world and our society, this new year brings more anxiety and I struggle with hope. The escalating tragedies, the fiscal cliff, the threat of higher taxes, another personal financial blow, uncertainty with my job (still working in a temp position), and on and on goes the list.


Then, I opened Streams in the Desert for December 31.

"Thus far the Lord has helped us. (Samuel 7:12.)  

The Lord who "thus far" has helped you

Will help you all your journey through. 

And He has. I can look back not only over last year, but the year before and the year before that and back as far as I can remember. He has helped me. Comforted during the hard times, always offering hope for a brighter tomorrow. The hard times were only for a time, not a lifetime. This blog has many, many posts describing miracles and Divine interventions. Why would I believe He would stop helping me now? 

I fall into this trap when I take my eyes off Him and look at my circumstances. Like Peter walking to the Lord on the water, when I take my eyes off Him, I see only the impossibility of my circumstances. I become afraid and begin to sink under their burdens. Our compassionate God reaches down, grasps my hand, and encourages me to look up. 

And so, instead of a single word for this New Year, I prefer a scriptural quote: "Thus far the Lord has helped us." And, I can take that to the bank, literally. 

Who Started All This New Year's Resolution Stuff?

With New Year's upon us, everyone is reflecting on things past, hoping for things to come, and making resolutions to improve the things they can. Why? Who started this tradition at the first of every year? Curious, I did a little research.

The first to celebrate the beginning of a new year was the Babylonians on the Vernal Equinox, March 20th (or 21st in some years), at around 2000 B.C.  Besides being the first day of spring, this date has astrological significance. At exactly 7:21 pm EDT the sun crosses over the Earth's equator. Both day and night are of equal length, thus the name, Equinox - equal night. 

It wasn't until the adoption of the solar based Julian Calendar by Rome in 46 B.C. that January 1 was designated as the first day of the new year. It remained until the Council of Taurs abolished the practice in the year 567. The counsel claimed the celebration was pagan and unchristian, and they set the new year on either December 25th, Christmas, March 1, the Annunciation, or on March 25, Easter.

In 1582 the Catholic Church adopted the Gregorian calendar and January 1st was reinstated as the beginning of the new year. The Protestants were slower to adopt the calender, holding out until 1752 when the British finally accepted it. Prior to that, Brittan, and its American colonies, celebrated the New Year in March.

As far as New Year's resolutions, it is the Babylonians we can blame for that tradition, then later, Christians implemented the year end practice of reflection on past mistakes and new year vows to improve.

The song, Auld Lang Syne, was first published by Robert Burns in 1796 after Burns heard the song in his Scottish hometown. The song was popularized by band leader Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians in 1929 after playing it at midnight on New Year's Eve during a party at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.

The words, auld lang syne mean "old long since", or "times gone by." The song asks if old friends and times will be forgotten, and promises to remember people of the past with fondness. Very appropriate sentiments as the old year wanes and the new begins.


Following the ancient tradition of reflection, I think back this New Year's Eve to special moments with my friends and family, accept the hallmark changes, and look forward to things yet to come. Although there are still some unresolved issues (and there will always be), I feel I am at a far better position than at any other moment in my life.  I have learned to have more faith and trust in God, my Father, and life is no longer one crises after another.

My only resolution this year: to continue to deepen my relationship with Him, and all the rest will magically fall in place.

Happy New Year!