December 31, 2015

Taking Root in the New Year.

Happy New Year's Eve, friends! I'm sitting on my bed-with a sweet 2 month old asleep next me. I just gave him a bath so he's smelling fresh and looking extra cuddly. I will refrain from squeezing him. Instead, I will take advantage of this moment of calm..my other two kiddos are watching Madagascar for the trillionth time and belly laughing in the other room. It was my NYE gift to them...and to me. Movies. The crack of toddlers everywhere.

So, I took a second to re-read my 2015 New Years Post and it was, as I suspected, pretty self-fulfilling prophecy. I said our year would be full of change and so it was. I also said at the every end of the post that I wasn't pregnant-and yet within three weeks I would be. Wowzers. Not only did we buy a car, buy a house, "sorta kinda" changed careers we also added a brand new person into our family.
When I look at my prayersolutions card for 2015 I'm struck by how many of our personal prayer requests were answered. God even gave us "someone to live with us" which was on my card right next to "a house that we could fill up with people". We've had my brother-in-law in our back bedroom for 5 months, almost as long as we've been in the house ( a house that we can definitely fill up with people!). It was a prayer that I'd added to my card not knowing at all how it would look- in the end it looked like my kids getting to play with their uncle almost every day. Go figure.

Sure the year had its challenges-most of which I've written about here or on other social media ( I'm all about outsourcing my prayer requests!), some that I haven written about at all-yet when I think about them right now, they all seem to pale in comparison to the many many answered prayers, the many many blessings.

To be honest, the last few months of the year have been a whirl-wind, as they always inevitably are, and yet made SO much more so with the addition of Justice. I'm really looking forward to slowing down and taking root-spending more time with the Lord in prayer and in Bible Study. I admit the stresses and business of life have left me thirsty for more time sitting at Jesus' feet.  I finally completed reading my last Bible through ( granted I'd read the New Testament 3 times through by the time I was completely done-but still! It took 2 years!), and as is my tradition I bought a new Bible-however this time I got JUST the New Testament, The Harmony of the Gospels, to be exact. It basically smashes all four gospels together so that you can see how they are the same, and how they add or subtract various aspects of the Gospel. I'm excited to use it in looking at some cool topics this year. I think its going to be enlightening.

I'm also looking forward to my new prayer card, as always I'll take some time to see what God wants me to put on there-it's for the BIG God-sized prayers after all! I can HARDLY wait to see what He wants me to pray about this year! I have a certain "method" to my prayer card that I realized I didn't go into detail in my last post about it, so I'll hopefully fill you in on it in a few days time. Actually, I've got SO many blog posts bumping around in my brain right now...three kids is definitely an adjustment. I don't know where "eating, sleeping, dressing oneself" are fitting into my day much less writing.

All that said, I know this post is disjointed-but I know that by the end of 2016 I'll have a one year-old, an almost 4 year old (!!) and a 6 year old...and no matter what else, things will be different. I'll be able to laugh at my disjointed ways as a thing of the past ( hopefully!) and my hope is that as much as this year was about "change"-this next year will be about taking "root" into that change and growing and nourishing it. Seeing our home, our ministry, our children all grow and-Lord willing-flourish.

So here's to 2016...I was hoping the word for the year would be "sleep"...but I'm guessing that's just wishful thinking.

1 comment:

Aunt Sheron said...

Thank you, Abigail, for sharing your thoughts and desires. I doubt things will settle into a smooth, jointed pattern--not with 3 children--but I do pray your life will be full of His love and guidance. I know you will continue to share His love with all around you and be an inspiration to us all. We love you all---Happy and Blessed new year.