What a year this was! Those words could be uttered with an overwhelming feeling of joy and excitement. It might have been a very good year for you. Then you could have had a year like Alexander. He is a character in a child’s book titled, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day! As you can tell by the title, Alexander could not find anything in his day to be thankful for. Maybe you feel you not only had a day like that, but a whole year.
The year my daughter passed away I could not wait to say good-bye to that year. It just felt like it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year. I felt like God was punishing me and I just wanted the year to be over with. I also struggled moving on into a new year because I realized my daughter would not be physically present. I was in a state of wanting out of where I was but not wanting to move forward. Time had its hold on me, yet it grabbed me and flung me forward. As I stumbled through those early years of grief it was sometimes hard to see the blessings that were being intertwined in my days. The movement of time in our lives will often reveal to us what was there all the time. His blessings were new each day. I was in deep pain and my days were difficult, but I can see how the Lord was with me, carrying me each step of the way. He was guiding me in just the right way to help strengthen my frame. Do you find yourself struggling to leave this year and walk into a new year? Are the Lord’s blessings hidden within your pain? Time will march on and you will march on with it. Allow yourself for just a minute, to think of one blessing and then maybe two. You might be surprised three and four might follow. Charles Dickens wrote these words, "Reflect upon your present blessings of which every man has plenty, not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some."
Lord, I pray as we enter this new year that even though we might feel like we are living in terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days, You have promised us that Your plan is not to harm us but to prosper us. Let us be open to Your blessings each day.
– Michele
