New Year’s Blahs

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Lynn

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI suppose the weather here in Alberta has much to do with what I call the “New Year’s Blahs”.  It is a condition that follows the Christmas season, usually arriving mid January, when all the New Year’s Resolutions have usually been broken (or not even begun yet)!  The decorations are down and the house vacuumed and dusted.  In my case, hopefully the house will not need vacuuming or dusting until Valentine’s Day…(I’m a terrible housekeeper).  The weather is cold, snowy, and bleak and there are sniffles and sneezes in the house that has everyone in a little “under-the-weather” mood.

The stores are already filled with hearts and candy for Valentine’s Day, but the shelves are still half-filled with 50% off Christmas decorations, all looking sad and forgotten and scattered haphazardly around like those misfit toys in Rudolph’s movie.  I usually wander through the aisles looking for some next year treasure, but usually I just feel depressed that the holiday season is behind and Valentine’s hearts do not warm my soul so early in January.

Certainly avid hockey fans this year are airing out their hockey jerseys and preparing for the shortened NHL hockey season, a great way to chase away the winter doldrums, but I am one of many who are “Bah-humbugging” the whole season more than a little fed up with a lock-out that saw millionaires squabbling over millions to fill their overflowing wallets when grass-root hockey fans can ill-afford the cost of tickets to the games.  Drop the price of tickets guys and you might attract more attention AND fans into those arenas.  That’s my rant for the day.

My husband tells me that the gyms in downtown Calgary are filled with those resolution-filled bodies who are determined to drop the poundage they put on over the Christmas break.  He always laughs when mid February rolls around and the gym is a wasteland (or should I say waist-land) and only those die-hard fitness lifers are left to work out.  No doubt a few newbies will return once again after the Valentine’s chocolate ponch motivates them back to the gyms.

Yep.  It’s the New Year’s Blahs and it’s tough to shrug off.

To make it even more of a challenge for me this time is that we started the year mourning the loss of my father-in-law and every once in a while a wave of grief crashes over me and it takes time and energy to pull myself back up.  Grief weighs a body down.

It is interesting then how God’s Word rises above the weariness, and combats the New Year’s Blahs like nothing else.  One of my father-in-law’s favorite passages of scripture comes from Isaiah 40.  The entire passage is entitled “Comfort for God’s People” in the NIV version. The people Isaiah writes to were in exile and they needed a word of comfort from the Lord.  They needed to know that He was there, no matter their circumstances, and He would be their help and their comfort when their hearts were weary and their bodies weak.  Today I invite you to read Isaiah 40 if you are like me and need a “pick-me-up” from the New Year’s Blahs.  Let Isaiah 40:31 give you comfort and strength today: “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles: they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

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25 Encouraging Scripture Verses for the New Year

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Lynn

Lucy Maude Montgomery in her classic, Anne of Green Gables book said, ““Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”  It has become one of my most favourite quotes but also one I remember every New Year’s Eve.  The New Year begins with great fanfare and excitement; a New Year full of promise and expectation AND a New Year with no mistakes in it…yet.

Start the New Year off right by meditating on God’s Word:

1.  “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” – Ecclesiastes 3:1

2.  “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”  Isaiah 43:18-19

3.  “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”  Psalm 90:12

4.  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11

5.  “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”  Proverbs 16:9

6.  “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:13-14

7.   “You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.”  Psalm 65:11

8.  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Genesis 1:1

9.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”  2 Corinthians 5:17

10.  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  1 Peter 1:3

11.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”  Proverbs 3:5-6

12.  “…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”  Isaiah 40:31

13.  “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  Lamentations 3: 22-24

14.  “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

15.  “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”  “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no commandment greater than these.”  Mark 12:28-31

16.  “A blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you.”  Deuteronomy 23:5

17.  “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.   And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.   Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.”  Ezekiel 36:26-28

18.  “Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.  Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.  Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.”  Psalm 96: 1-3

19.  “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”  James 1:17-18

20.  “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.  Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,…”  1 Chronicles 16:11-12

21.  “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”  Mark 11:25-26

22.  “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”  Colossians 3:15

23.  “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.  He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”  Zephaniah 3:17

24.  “May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”  Psalm 20:4

25.  “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed.  For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”  Habakkuk 1:5

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

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How Do We Fit Into God’s Story?

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Lynn

As we end 2012 and look expectantly ahead to 2013, I must take time to reflect and prepare.  Yes, it’s been a tough year.  We have lost some loved ones recently and my heart continues to grieve for those dear friends and family members whom we have lost this past year.

On December 19, my dear father-in-law, Charles Dixon Dove, passed away at the age of 91 years!  He leaves behind a legacy of faith for his children, grand-children, and great-grandchildren.  He will be greatly missed by his wife, Etta and all the members of the Dove and Keating Families.   It is so hard to say good-bye, but we rejoice in knowing that there willDSC01092 be a great reunion someday with him and other loved ones in heaven.

I take comfort knowing that God is always in control.  Joy WILL come in the morning.  It’s hard to understand, but it’s true.  For us as a family, along with grieving our personal losses of precious friends and family, we’ve had another “roller-coaster” year, with other ups and downs in our lives that have left us with motion-sickness at times.  Again, I take comfort that even with all the twists and turns, God is STILL in control.

I have been reminded time and time again that we are part of God’s ultimate Story.  We actually have a chapter written especially for us and about us.  Oh, it’s not complete yet for us still living in this world…it’s a work in progress and as every writer knows, there are times for revisions, editing and occasionally times to just delete and start over.  That’s the way it should be.  God writes our story.  I don’t know exactly how the story will unfold in the day-day telling; God is very good at keeping us in suspense, but He gives little clues along the way, to keep the plot interesting.  He is a Master-Storyteller after all!

I love how God builds our character along the way.  Writers know how important it is to a story to have good character development.  God knows that.  Even a flawed character like me  can grow and change appropriately to fit into God’s story line, and to be used for His glorious purposes if I am willing to be shaped into the character God can use.  It’s an adventure!

Dad Dove knew that well.  He lived a life that modeled his love and faith everyday to his family and friends.  He lived knowing that his life here on earth was just a small prologue to be added one day to the Eternal Book of Life.  The prologue is now finished for Dad and I feel confident that the closing line to that chapter now reads: “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

 

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