2017: The Year Everything Changed

Today my time at home led me to 8,468 steps of packing up Christmas, tucking it safely away in the attic, and redecorating for the new year, just a few short hours away.  I could hear my heart calling to me today, begging me to draw away to the quiet in my Shedquarters, to reflect, dream, and plan for the coming year.   

How has 2017 come so quickly? Each year I seem to say the same thing, and as the words pass my lips, I mean them even deeper than the last year.  Time is passing so quickly.  There’s an urgency as I watch the clock strike midnight tonight.  Another year is passing, more opportunity, more moments to make a choice between productivity, peace, and just being.  Another year is quickly approaching and once again I’ll continue my pursuit for balance and priorities kept in order.

My home is quiet, the kids are gone, Keith is working on a project, the candles are lit and I’m sitting quietly on the couch with Bella Mae (our Maltese).   As I sit here I’m thinking about you and wondering what we could do if we were brave enough this year.  I’m sitting here wondering if maybe just maybe God would use this humble blog in 2017 to speak encouragement and inspiration to your life.  I hope so.

What would you do in 2017 if there was no fear of failure?  What is knit so deeply into your heart and dreams that you can barely see between the threads of reality and the threads of possibility?

If change, possibility, renewed relationships, and dreams realized are waiting for us in 2017, don’t you want to lay hold to those things?  At the root of life’s satisfaction, fulfillment and joy I have found that it was when I learned to cultivate and train my ear to recognize the sound of the Lord’s voice.  I don’t hear him audibly, but I do hear that still small whisper on a regular basis.  His wisdom, direction, insight and even his conviction has breathed oxygen into my life this last year.   Tonight as I sit here thinking about what next year may hold of us as individuals and together as we travel through this journey, I’m jealous for you to cultivate and grow your relationship with Jesus.  I want you to find 2017 to be the year that you meet Him in deeper ways that are beyond anything you can imagine.

In January we’re going to start working through what it means to hear God’s voice, and entering into His Presence.  I hope you’ll join me.  Let’s find out what He wants to say to you, to me, and to us.

I’ll close for now sweet friend, but let me speak this blessing over you for 2017:

“May your year be filled with wonders unlike anything you’ve ever seen, may laughter be always near your lips, and tears shed, may you know that they are kept in His bottle and for His Glory.  May your heart overflow this year with purpose, confidence and joy”.

I love you.