I’d like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year in 2014 and a year full of health, happiness, and progress in the good things you endeavor. My blog is not quite 6 months old, but I plan to be here next year to wish you the very same thing and I hope to hear great things from you as 2014 progresses. God bless you – Helen

LOOKING BACK

“But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” -Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV)

What are your thoughts as you look back over the past year?  Was it a year of heartache and loss, tragedy and sorrow?  Or happiness and joy, success and achievement?  Or something in between?  Do you close the book on this year with regret or with relief?

No matter what your answer is, I hope you will pause and prayerfully ask yourself two important questions.  First, how do you think God looks on this past year in your life?  Did it bring you any closer to Him?  Did it expose any weaknesses or find you wandering from His way?  Was He disappointed in your responses to its challenges?

Second, what lessons will you take from this year into the next?  What did God teach you?  What did He try to teach you?  What needs to change –and how will it happen?

Don’t be bound by the past and it’s failures, but don’t forget it’s lessons either.  Like Paul, forget the past and press on in obedience to Christ.

-“Hope for Each New Day; Morning & Evening Devotions”, by Billy Graham, page 755, December 31 Evening.