Welcome 2009!!

"May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in You.
~Psalm 25:21

Hope is a beautiful thing. Like a flower that thrives on sunlight and water, hope relies on the daily sustenance of the Word of God, of prayer, and of experience shared with others who have received the gift. Hope is an elusive bird to those who have no relationship with God or reservation in eternity. Hope requires more than simply clicking red shoes or crossing your fingers. It is a sweet and magnificent benefit of walking with Christ. Hope looks at all that is true about the present, lifts the circumstances of life into the tender, loving hands of God--and exhales in trust. Hope makes it possible to live with our feet firmly planted on earth while our hearts and minds are committed to a vision that is far bigger than we are.

A new year is like the fresh, crisp page of an untouched journal. We lift our pen to the first day. This year will hold unexpected joy and sorrows, moments of faith and fear, wishes fulfilled and dreams abandoned. There is much we do not know. But there is much we do know with absolute assurance. We know that God is in control and that His heart is good and merciful toward us. We know that we are not alone. We know that everything that happens in our lives and in the lives of those we love has already passed through our Father's hands. And we know that we are loved.

~Sheila Walsh