New Year's for the rest of us...

If you're starting this New Year discouraged, I'm here to say you aren't alone.

If last year wasn't your favorite, wasn't your best, or is a year you never want to see again?  I'm with you.

If you can't imagine setting goals for another year after this last one pulled the rug out from under you?  That's OK.  It really is.

I've never faced a New Year with less enthusiasm.  Beginning a new year lends itself to looking back over the past year and it's definitely been a hard thing for me to do. The Coach and I are big goal setters.  We have always wanted to learn and grow and be challenged (hence the 8 kids - ha!). But last year challenged us in new and unusual (and painful) ways, so I'm not about to ask for THAT, again.  How about we all just pray for a year of coasting, maintaining and REST?  How about we try not having any goals at all?  I kid.  Sort of.

I told someone last week that I wasn't super excited about a new year after what last year held for us... not a year I want to see again.  He said, I feel like your family has had more than your share of those years, haven't you?  Hmmmm.  It does seem that way.  

But no matter what this year holds (good or bad - and it will be a combination of the two), we still know some things to be true.  

God is good.  He is always good.  Not everything that happens to us IS good.  For SURE.  But God is.  I can rest on that truth this year.

God has good plans for my life.  He promises to finish the work He has begun in me.  It's a promise.  He won't leave me alone, where I am, or without hope.  Ever.

God has good plans for the people I love.  I may not always see it.  Or believe it.  But it's true.  He LOVES them so much more than I ever could.  He is good, He has good plans for their lives, and He promises to complete His work in their lives and mine.

In the meantime, I may struggle to find my Anchor some days.  Or every day.  I may forget that it's for my good and HIS glory.  But it's still true.

If you've forgotten all of this at the beginning of this New Year, as I seem to have?  There is space for that, too.  I think it's OK to begin this year slowly with a bit of hesitation.  I think it's OK to not set any big goals or feel the need to grow or change this year.  As long as we keep moving forward.  And trust God for the rest of it.