Okay, I admit that I am not starting the year off right. I have already procrastinated just by putting off this blog for awhile. It was just so hard to get motivated after everyone in our house has been sick – in addition to the usual recovery from the holiday season! But now I am back and determined to stick to my resolutions!
Looking back over 2008, Jamie and I decided that we had to definitely celebrate the passing of the old year and welcome the coming of the new! We spent the majority of the year on an emotional roller coaster ride. We had the blessed birth of our beautiful daughter, Hannah, in April. Then we sadly said goodbye to Jamie’s grandmother (who had diligently prayed for Hannah way before she was born) in May, leaving us with a devastated and demented grandfather to move into an assisted living home. Also in May, we felt the devastating blow of Jamie unexpectedly (and unfairly) losing his job and faced an entire summer with a newborn baby and no income! Finally, in September, we welcomed a new job for Jamie that is quickly wearing him down!
Still, we have to look back on 2008 and celebrate God’s goodness to us. We wept together when Jamie lost his job, unsure of what our future would hold and how we would make ends meet. Each month, we were reminded of God’s provision as He met EACH AND EVERY ONE of our needs! We cannot begin to recount the number of times we opened our mailbox to find a giftcard to a grocery store or a check that met exactly how much we needed! We even won $500 in groceries from a local radio station on the very day that Jamie lost his job!
Now we can empathize with our friends who are losing their jobs and share with them the joy of God keeping His promises. We still struggle financially, but we know that we can rest in Him for all of our needs. We have never once gone without and have grown closer in our relationship with Him and with each other.
I write this post because I know that the media reminds us daily of how devastating our economic situation is and that it will only worsen in 2009. It is so easy to wallow in fear and self-pity instead of relying on God to meet our needs. Maybe we won’t be able to go out to dinner for awhile or even go see a movie; but we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and clean clothes on our backs. Let’s welcome this new year together and embrace the good times as well as the challenging ones.
Happy New Year from our family to yours!
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