NEW – What a Wonderful Word!
I’m back home in Austin, but I am still relishing the joys from Cabo. We celebrated the old year out and the new year in at the beach where there was delicious food, fireworks, and a big screen, with music artists (Adele, Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, etc.) singing their famous songs, plus a dance floor for rocking in the new year. My family owned it.
It wasn’t the norm for me. When my husband was alive, we would hold each other close and pray in the new year, thanking God that we survived the previous year and trusting Him for His tender mercies and grace for the new year.
This morning I checked in with God about my 2023 assignment. Already I know there will be a wedding (Braden, my oldest grandson proposed to his girlfriend while here in Cabo). Grandson Brennan, will graduate high school, and signed for baseball at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor, will move to his dorm in August. And, I will be having a milestone birthday. Lots of NEW taking place.
I began blogging in 2010 when we were on the roller coaster of our lives. It started with the roller coaster of Stage 4 Kidney Cancer until my sweetheart received his “eternal” ticket to heaven. It was a NEW beginning of my blogging and daily posting on Facebook and my blog site: MyPeaceZone.com
The next year, 2011, I asked God for my NEW “widow’s” assignment. Clearly, the inner assurance came to “provide a positive, uplifting and encouraging message the first thing in the morning so that others would have those thoughts to hold onto in their new day.” This is my 13th year of blogging.
I still love greeting each new day with words that have the potential of altering the course of someone’s otherwise negative start or finish to their day. Since the beginning, I’ve received many encouraging comments — you know who you are! God bless you for being my cheerleaders! From that time to this – I’ve purposed to post before 6 a.m. every morning – only adjusting if I’m in a location that doesn’t permit easy access to Wifi.
New Year. New journal. New calendar. Clean slate. There’s something in us that naturally draws us toward fresh beginnings. 2022 was a doozey of a year for many, so now NEW hope for a NEW start.
God engineered us for do-overs and fresh starts. Just look at how His Word (the Bible), will help us navigate 2023.
~GOD MAKES US NEW: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become NEW.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
~GOD GIVES US NEW SONGS OF PRAISE. “He put a NEW song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.” Psalm 40:3
~GOD MAKES NEW WAYS FOR US. “I am doing a NEW thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19
~GOD’S MERCIES ARE NEW EVERY MORNING. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are NEW every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23
We have a NEW year to be the best versions of ourselves that we can possibly be. NEW potential for achieving our goals. NEW clean slate to start fresh to show ourselves and others that we are finishers – not quitters.
NEW will to overcome; NEW goals to break OLD habits. But most importantly to write some NEW stories that leave a NEW legacy for those who are following us — a legacy of “I can” and “I will”!!
Today I’m taking a deep breath and starting a NEW chapter of my life. How about you?