New Year Blessings

I know lots of happy people, and I know lots of unhappy people. Regardless of which one you may be, I think for many of us, 2010 is a year that can't end quick enough. Much of this is due to an economy that is still in a tail spin. In my relatively brief 49 years, I can't remember a time when more people that I know personally, and in the course of my ministry, are unemployed. Of course, there are the normal hurts, disappointments, frustrations, and failures found in everyone's life. Maybe you are depressed due to unemployment and financial pressure, grieving the loss of a loved one or some other loss, weighed down by concerns for one or more family members, or any number of reasons why you are glad 2010 is about to end.
I want to share a word from God that I hope will encourage you as we begin 2011. It was written during a very dark, depressing, and difficult time in the lives of God's people. It comes from one of the saddest books of the Bible, Lamentations (even the name communicates great despair!). Yet as bad as things were when it was written, it is a book that conveys a message of hope. Not a blind, put your head in the sand kind of hope. It is a gritty, "don't ignore how bad things are" hope. The word from God I want you to ponder is found in chapter 3, verses 22-25:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, therefore I will hope in him." The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
You may have a hard time believing this right now, that's ok, so did many of the people who saw nothing but suffering when these words were first given. Know that there is hope, and this hope is found in God. If you are a follower of Christ, then the Lord is your portion. You are an object of his love and mercy, and they are new every morning. Tomorrow morning is the beginning of a new year, wait for him and he will deliver.
New Year Blessings,
Dr. Paul