Nothing brings about more introspection than the start of a New Year, but especially when it is also the start of a new decade. Today I have been reading some posts several young moms have posted on Instagram and Facebook. These young women, including my daughter and daughter-in-love, have commented on the past year, its challenges and blessings; how far they’ve come in ten years, and wondering what 2020 and the next decade holds for them. It was Ashley’s words that resonated with me in particular: “I used to question God and myself a great deal. What am I good at? What are my talents and gifts? I didn’t fit any of the categories we lock ourselves into at school. But after this decade I know. Through Christ, I am a conqueror. Through Christ, I am the perfect mom for my two babies. Through Christ, I am becoming the wife I was meant to be to the most incredible man I could ask to spend my life with. Through Christ, I will pick myself up after these past ten years and experience all the joy, chaos, sadness, laughter, and pain that this next ten has to bring with an open heart.”

Powerful words that carry such promise, such hope, and such expectation for the decade ahead! More importantly, her knowledge that Christ is her strength and her Guide through all the years ahead. Oh, that all of us could say that with as much confidence as she does!

I’ve often quoted from Lucy Maude Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables” as fitting words to start a New Year: “Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”  I didn’t know at the start of 2019, what I would experience over the year. Had I known, would I have stepped so eagerly into it? It has been a challenging year. Certainly not at all how I expected to spend it, battling endometrial cancer for most of it. I had made different plans for 2019, never expecting the challenges I would face or how much my faith would be tested throughout the entire experience. Thankfully, the Lord was so very patient with me, and never left my side! My family and friends rallied around me, and all our relationships were strengthened as a result of facing adversity together. I was touched by their prayers for me. I saw the activity of God around me, and experienced His healing touch. He healed my body, encouraged me through His Word, and sustained me through prayer. If I were to sum up 2019, based on everything I experienced and learned about God, my family, friends and myself, through all the ups and downs, it was a great year all things considered.

2020 is a New Year with no mistakes (challenges, upsets, etc.) in it yet. I pray it will be a year filled with more joy than hardships, more laughter than tears, and a year filled with precious memories that will last a lifetime!

Happy New Year!

(Start the year and decade off right by reading these Encouraging Verses!)