Hey, the New Year’s Coming Up Fast!
December 27, 2023
I took this picture right before the City of Charlotte tested it’s new streetcar system for the first time with a live streetcar. We’d worked on the project for many years. Pre-planning, planning, funding, designing, and construction efforts seemed to never end for the project team. Then one very early morning, in the Spring of 2015, we ran our first vehicle on the new track system.
As part of the City’s team, I’d experienced times of great forward movement for the project and times when I wondered if we were ever going to get past a certain point (at least on time). Working on the project proved to be a tough calling.
Of course, I knew as a seasoned City employee, that dealing with those issues came with the job. However, if you’ve been reading my posts, you also know I tend to be a worrier. Easily finding my way to anxiousness. While working on a project that involves so many streets, the traveling public, businesses, taxpayers, elected officials, and the department who would run and maintain the system, there were plenty of opportunities for worry.
Every milestone seemed to come at us fast.
I’m not sure what your year has been like. I don’t know if you’ve felt like you’ve spent months dealing with something difficult or anxiously anticipating the end or beginning of something in your life. You may be experiencing a long-range dread, or a fast-approaching uneasiness.
If you have, you have great hope.
Jeremiah knew God was able to handle anything. He prayed this prayer during a time of great stress.
“Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17, NIV)
No matter what we’ve been dealing with in 2023 or what we may be anticipating in 2024, our answer is in God.
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I’m going to wrap up 2023 with a recommendation. I’m on Day 85 of a 90-day book by Max Lucado. It has been a great daily devotional for me as I seek calm thoughts in Jesus. If you want to experience more calmness rather than anxiousness, give this book a try. Here’s a brief excerpt…
“You think God wants you to live with these? Hopelessness. Sleeplessness. Loneliness. Resentment. Irritability. Insecurity. These are warnings. Symptoms of a dryness deep within.
Perhaps you’ve never seen them as such. You’ve thought they, like speed bumps, are a necessary part of the journey. Anxiety, you assume, runs in your genes like eye color. Some people have bad ankles; others, high cholesterol or receding hairlines. And you? You fret.
Aren’t such emotions inevitable? Absolutely! But unquenchable? No way. View the pains of your heart not as struggles to endure, but as an inner thirst to slake—proof that something within you is starting to shrivel.
Treat your soul as you treat your thirst. Take a gulp. Imbibe moisture. Flood your heart with a good swallow of water.
Where do you find water for the soul? Jesus.”[1]
[1] Lucado, Max. Calm Moments for Anxious Days: A 90-Day Devotional Journey (p. 168). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
My 2023 was not anything like I thought it would have been. What a tough year it ended up being. My word of the year for 23 was community. God clearly defined that word opposite of how I defined it. I envisioned growth but God meant decrease. It was a pruning year. It was a year of housebound isolation for a few reasons. This year is ending with unexpected financial hardship. BUT GOD. He is in control even when life feels out of control. Thankful for that. Out of silence God finally revealed my 2024 word of the year and I am fully embracing it and am looking forward to whatever 2024 brings.
So good to hear from you Teresa. Your 2023 does indeed sound like it was a tough year. I pray God will bless you in ways you don’t expect in the new year. You can count on Him to be faithful.
We already know how good God is at ‘creating’. I believe He continues to create on our behalf. Just like our new year fast approaching- stories in the Bible tell us how God gave David a second chance to be King ….. he forgave him after David had an affair with Bathsheba. Paul was murdering Christians, but God set him on a path of new beginnings and he became one of the most important examples of how patience and contentment can help us start anew. Another great example is Joseph ….. his brothers sold him into slavery but a new beginning gave him the tools to save his brothers from famine. God can and will create new opportunities for us. Beginning a new year is the perfect time to trust God. He is creating new beginnings for every one of us! Happy New Year to you and your sweet Sarah!
Awesome Jane! Thank you for reading and commenting. Your thoughts remind me of God’s second (and 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.) chances show His grace and mercy. Happy New Year!
Thank you for the recommendations and reminder that God always comes through. Prayers for you in the new year.
Thank you, Joni!
Wow! I forget that what we struggle with—sleeplessness, resentment, irritability, and insecurity are actually warnings of something that is lurking deeper within us. I like that Max Lucado reminds us that God doesn’t want us to have to live that way. Sounds like a great book! I’ll have to check that one out:)
Thank you, Jane. I appreciate your thoughts on this. Sarah just purchased the hard copy. I used Kindle.