Happy New Year?
Has your excitement of leaving 2020 behind and entering into 2021 left you disappointed? Weary? In need of encouragement? The start of the new year hasn’t left us with a lot of hope. The news has been bleak – political chaos and COVID19 restrictions still in place are just a few of the disappointments. In our church family three members have died within these past few weeks, three individuals that we loved and we will grieve their loss. It is easy to loose hope. And yet the Bible teaches in Ecclesiastes that there is a time for everything. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11
This truth was spoken into my heart this week as we walked through the rebuilding of our home. August 18, 2020 the day my husband and I stood on the sidewalk watching our home, with all our material belongings burn to the ground. It was a dark day in our lives. A day when we were overwhelmed with loss, and many questions. It was our grounding in truth that kept us “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we not see.” Hebrews 11:1. We sensed God’s presence in the darkness and knew with out a doubt His grace, mercy and love were following us. This week as I stood at the top of the stairs looking down into the living space remembering the old and envisioning the new God whispered in my heart, “this is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.” The reminder that what Christ has already accomplished for us through His birth, death and resurrection filled me with great hope. Hope for the rebuild, hope for the political climate, hope for the grief because this is all temporal. That which is eternal fills me with hope.
We can be hopeful in disappointment, weariness and loss because we can trust in the God who knows the end from the beginning. We can be hopeful because we know our loved ones are with Jesus. We can be hopeful because in Christ we are new creations, the old has gone and the new has come! 2021 a year to ground ourselves in truth so we can truly say, “Happy New Year!”
With love and grace, Donna
