A New Year..A New Hope

Everyone looks forward to a New year, even though, we all know that nothing magically happens overnight. Nothing changes when the clock strikes 12. Debts do not magically disappear, diseases don't get cured overnight, wars may not end, poverty will still exist, broken relationships may not get fixed... But New Hope arises at the dawn of a New year! ... There is nothing stronger than Hope. It is greater than fear.  

Faith in God and Hope is what keeps us going every day and new year's eve serves as a good reminder. "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." - Romans 5:1-5

So looking back, I look ahead with faith yet again. Knowing that the God of Hope will see me through the new year as well.. So I wish you all a hope filled year... "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." - Romans 15:13

30 Days of Thankfulness

'You are richer than you think' is the tag line for one the banks here in Canada. Every time the ad comes on the TV, I think to myself, 'yeah right! nice way of fooling people into banking with you'. But after writing my blog post on Contentment  yesterday, I think it is true. We all are richer than we think we are, if your reading this right now, you are. You are able enough to own a laptop or a PC or a smart phone or all of them, to access the Internet. Richness does not define the amount of money you have in your bank account, or how big a house you live in, or the fancy restaurants you eat in. How often we forget that the simple things in life that we take for granted, are actually luxury to millions of people around the world. 

Taking time to be thankful for who we are and what we have, makes us realize how rich we indeed are. And that's what God tells us to do so too in the Bible (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).


So I've decided to be grateful and thank God for the simple things I take for granted, and tell myself how 'Rich' I indeed am. So now you know what the title of the post means "30 Days of Thankfulness". I will be thanking God for one thing each day, for the next 30 days. I got this idea from the blog 'Nesting Place', the author does 31 day series to love his home the way it is. So, why not use it to thank God. 


  30 Days of Thankfulness

• Day 1: Shelter & Safety
• Day 2: Family
• Day 3: Friends
• Day 4: Memories
• Day 5: Health
• Day 6: Children
  
• Day 7: Song Writers
  
• Day 8: Jobs
• Day 9: Limitations
• Day 10: Creativity
• Day 11: Transportation
• Day 12: Inventors
• Day 13: Bible
• Day 14: Food
• Day 15: Role models
• Day 16: Music
• Day 17: Singing
• Day 18: Mornings
• Day 19: Sleep
• Day 20: Life lessons
• Day 21: Faith
• Day 22: Social workers
• Day 23: Missionaries
• Day 24: Nature
• Day 25: Laughter
• Day 26: Safety
• Day 27: Love
• Day 28: Spare change
• Day 29: Hope
• Day 30:                      

(I will fill the links of the post as I write each day)

Contentment

'Contentment is not getting what you want, but being satisfied with what you have'

  

This one liner has been stuck in my head for more than a decade now. I was asked to make a poster with these words for one the annual Navodaya youth camp in 2001, and have remembered it ever since. Over the years, I've been learning more and more about contentment. The more I choose to be content, the more I am at peace. Now that I am a stay-at-home mommy, and my husband is the only person working, the need to be content is more :) and trust me, it is rewarding. But there are times when I do tend to sway by things and people around me, but God always reminds me 1Timothy6:6-11 from the Bible. ⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. ⁹ Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.¹¹ But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

I am writing this post as reinforcement for myself about contentment. I recently came across a beautiful saying on a blog that I accidentally came across; yeah yeah I do a lot of 'accidental' reading. So the other day I started with a link on DIY and ended up clicking away as usual, form one link to another, making sounds of admiration and now and then. I love reading blogs on creative stuff, anything from home decor to DIY. I am inspired by creativity, the ideas that some people come up with are simply mind blowing.

 And then, something caught my attention. A saying by Jon Acuff and a comment in the blog 'The Shabby Creek Cottage' 

"The understanding that people are more important than things, the reminders about contentment, making the best of where we are at while realizing that this life is only temporary. So refreshing!" (Comment on the blog)

 How profound! Sometimes we simply start to feel inferior when we see some one's accomplishments or things. I think it’s one way of not being content with ourselves or what we have. We will never know how long and hard they had to work, to be where they are now, or have what they have now. 

Also, when we are content, it gives us an opportunity to see how much more we have and enjoy in life, when compared to the millions of people and children who die every day due to starvation and lack of basic essentials in life. 

God Bless.

The 1st Birthday!

My baby boy turned 1 on June 5th, 2012. We wanted to have a party, to celebrate and praise God for this huge blessing He has showered upon us.

 I was inspired by my talented sister-in-law Rebekah to make her famous Martha Stewart pom poms as decorations. I first saw the pom poms on my baby shower, which my SIL and close friends Kezia and Sarah threw for me. They are so simple and pretty. I had bought a Birthday banner, and used it to pull the colors from and made these colorful pom poms :) Simple, pretty and cheap ;)

The Party in a  snapshot.

Looking back, I look ahead with Faith!

Dec 30th, 2009 sitting in office with not much work to do… realizing what a wonderful God I worship… I write…

Wow... One whole year just flew by...Just when we thought we can’t get thru this year in one piece... It’s over :)

Sitting back and thinking of all the wonderful times, the painful ones, the fun I had, the regrets, things I wished I did, things I wished I never did.... wow! There’s a lot that went into those 365 days! My God! How did I ever come across all those Valleys and mountains? simple!.. Jesus was right there...Even when I didn't realize He was there working for me... He knew just how much I could take and handle in any situation; He knew exactly what was going to happen tomorrow when I was panicking, He knew exactly how to encourage me... He knew exactly how to teach me a lesson... He knew exactly how to comfort me. When I was wrong, He gave me a knock on my head and pointed to me the right way, patiently, every time. He knew exactly how to make me a stronger person. He has been, He is and He will be Lord over my life and everyone else's.

The unknown is always scary. What does the New Year hold for me? I'm not sure, there would be good times and lots of difficult times too. But if I focus on the worries of life alone I'm never going to be happy, and fear is not something from God. I remember Sammy ka quoting the verse 1Tim1:7 to me “for God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." So I've decided to focus on My All powerful Father Jesus Christ who brought me thru the last 24 yrs of my life... God's been teaching me this - When things get tough and unpleasant, and your starting to think what next! Remember the past! How God has brought you through worst situations in the past. If He can do it then, He can do it now. He is more powerful than I can ever imagine. Its amazing when you look back into life and think, Wow how did I survive that! Ha ha.. J

:) So with New hope and strength, knowing Jesus holds my future and claiming Jer 29:11 " For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I head into the New Year :)

All that God asks me in return is just a little bit of Faith in him and to trust him, too bad often we don't realize it and too bad we often worry and disappoint him...Help Me Lord to have More faith in you and may it grow each day, give me the wisdom I need to live a life pleasing to you, to take care of my family and friends... Hold my hand and Lead me on Lord :) Just Hold my Hand!...

Hold my hand while traveling through this land
Hold me with your precious nail pierced hands
Lead me on the tangle winding way
Lead me on and never let me stray... Never let me stray...

Hold my hand and lead me on
Hold my hand and lead me on
Never from thy side I want to roam
Till my task on earth is done
And my race on earth is run
Lead me on till heaven is my home...

[Hold my Hand - Old Old Old Bain School choir song…Every generation in the Bain school choir would have sung this song. Honestly, as a little kid I didn’t realize what I sang back then. I used to love the tune and the harmony... Now it’s a prayer that comes from deep with in! Thank God for precious memories!]