Thoughts of celebration in 2008

I remember thinking when I first became a Christian that God had pretty words for us, but words weren't life. I thought there was no way it could be that simple, that straightforward. Life was tangled and twisted, withering from birth. I could not erase the past. I thought, no matter how hard I tried to believe those words, they would never be true to me. I used to never look back, never look forward and had convinced myself that the now did not exist. It was easier that way. I celebrate today because I can now look back, even though looking back is accompanied by a swarm of difficult emotions, I have the encouragement of looking forward, hoping for a future that will not change the past but change the now. When I watch the sunrise, or the sunset, when the sky's colors are glowing and brilliant, it is as if the Lord is saying to me "This is what I have to offer you, I want to fill your life with color and warmth. I want to fill it with light." The hope that the Lord brings with salvation is one that has changed me. The road ahead is long and hard, but I give praise to the One that has brought me this far. I write this not to merely remember what used to be, but to celebrate what is, and what is to come. Healing, renewing, spectacular hope. Another year has passed. I start 2008 by celebrating the life that the Lord has given me. As hard as it may be sometimes to not feel forgotten, I plant my feet on the solid ground of truth, truth that says "And the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." I rest on that, and pray that this year I would come to believe that truth, and other truths that He has made more than ever. I pray that I would live a life that proclaims I believe that truth. After all, life is not a problem to be solved, it's an adventure to be lived. An adventure that brings God glory and brings others to His precious name.