New Praises - Dinner #20

     Wow!  At the start of a new year, do you ever take the time to sit down and think about all the worries, problems, and trials you faced in the previous year, that God brought you through?!  This year, my husband and I sat on the couch New Year’s Eve, and just reflected on the many, MANY things we had on our plate going into LAST year! As of last January, Brandon didn’t have an off-campus job, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to pay off his school bill, we didn’t know if I’d be able to get time off from teaching to do our marriage counseling in VA, I didn’t have a job lined up for me in TN, we hadn’t found a place to live, neither of us had a reliable vehicle in our own names . . . On top of it all, we were trying to plan a wedding together with BOTH of us out of state, but not even in the same state! LOL!  Do you know what? EVERY SINGLE one of those mountains of last year are not even there any more! God brought us through EACH and EVERY ONE, and provided for our every need!!

     In Psalm 77:11-12, Asaph declares, “I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.  I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.”  Here in January 2011, those merciful provisions of last year are such a beautiful reminder that HE DOES and WILL take care of us!  As a newlywed couple with a little one on the way, you can only imagine the stresses and fears we have on our list for THIS year!  What do you have on your own list?  How are you asking God to come through on YOUR behalf in 2011? Guess what, Ladies?  This year carries with it a host of new worries and prayer requests for all of us – Faith allows those to become praises we’re looking back on at the beginning of 2012! NEW THINGS TO PRAISE HIM FOR!

     Sometimes when we are facing big difficulties, it is almost as though we have to be reminded of Who our Lord really is! Who is He?  Psalm 77:14 declares, “Thou art the God that doest wonders . . .” Why do we think our problems are so big before us? Our God is the God of miracles! Who is He?  Ephesians 3:20 tells us, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think . . .” Our God is an awesome and amazing God, capable of more than we could ever imagine!  I Corinthians 2:9 says,  “But as it is written, EYE HATH NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NEITHER HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN, THE THINGS WHICH GOD HATH PREPARED FOR THEM THAT LOVE HIM.” 

     It is the start of a new year, Ladies.  I challenge you to make a list of all those insurmountable things you already see before you in the next twelve months – all the challenges you already know you’re going to have to face – and then stand back, look to Heaven, and hear the Father say, “Be still, and know that I am God . . .” (Psalm 46:10)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!