The Start of a new year

Starting over has the context of "again" and "another time" implied.  It's used and reused.  And sometimes that's the way I look at the turn of the calendar year. Regretful with the past days and as I try to pull myself up by the bootstraps, I start over.
Determination is one thing, but it has nothing to do with the joy of life and being given wings to soar.
Spiritually new?  This is a supernatural phenomenon and supernatural knows no bounds.  It can be fresh and it can be new.
If you are a child of God, this video is to encourage you. And me.

A new year, A fresh start

 Last month at least one home school mom was given Heaven for Christmas.  

In late December Denise Sproul, woman of God, wife of RC Sproul Jr., and mother of nine wonderful children, walked into the loving arms of Jesus.  I did not know her personally, but I have read about her struggles.  She has known sickness and pain firsthand, along with long days of no answers, and the weight of crucial decisions.  And then a day came where I believe she felt the warm light of eternity, the surge of new energy throughout her weary body and heard the gentle voice of her master, rising to know no longer the strains of this world.  Her battle with cancer has ended and her legacy will continue that of loving her Lord, her husband, her children, her friends and relatives. 

And she waits for us on the other side.  Imagine. 

This is where we are going, if we know this Savior.  It is a matter of minutes, years, or decades away from here and now, left in the hands of a loving Heavenly Father, but indeed a day will come for us as well.  There will come a time when pencils and books, appointments and calendars, lists and schedules will cease.  The bills, the deadlines, the sicknesses, and all burdens we know will loosen and fall to the ground.  We have this moment now: not to wish for, but to prepare for.   Anything that doesn’t fit must go.  Insecurity, discontentment, anger, selfishness, it is time for these to leave.  Laziness, materialism, judgmentalism, we need make room for those no more.  January is known as a month where the norm is to pick up and start new with the New Year.  The most important thing to get into gear is our hearts. 

Isaiah 26:3–4   Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.

Some insight I read recently from ElisabethElliot -  

"My yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:29 AV). 

He is willing to bear our burdens with us, if only we will come to Him and share the yoke, His yoke.

I saw this principle in operation when I visited the Dohnavur Fellowship in India. There, day after day, year in and year out, Indian women (most of them single) care for little children, handicapped children, infirm adults, old folks. They don't go anywhere. They have none of our usual forms of amusement and diversion. They work with extremely primitive equipment--there is no running water, for example, no stoves but wood-burning ones, no washing machines. In one of the buildings I saw this text: "There they dwelt with the King for His work." That's the secret. They do it for Him. They ask for and receive His grace to do it. I saw the joy in their lovely faces. “

 Do you think perhaps that joy is not in possessing all the strength but in knowing who to ask for it?  I think it is.  My strength bucket is fairly shallow and when it's gone, it's gone.  But if I know who can fill it, who fills it easily and has a vast supply to fill again and again, I will be but a blink away from having superb strength.  What hope there is when this is the perspective and practice.  Hope is linked to this joy that comes from serving God and striving to please him.  Dwelling with the King, to please him.