Saying farewell to 2016

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."
Philippians 1:2-6

As I look at the gathering night on this last day of 2016, I find I am fighting a bit of melancholy. Having had a cold for over 10 days probably contributes to the malaise. I am weary of not feeling good. I feel as though Christmas snuck past while I was trying to fight this nasty bug.  Other members of my family were ill as well, so the holiday lacked quite a bit of its normal luster. Although the upcoming New Year is merely hours away, I find I have no energy to celebrate. I am glad to bid 2016 good bye, (it's been a stretching year emotionally), but my zeal for the coming year is lagging.

When I find myself in the valley such as this, I am comforted by the knowledge that God holds all things in His competent hand.  He has not looked down on my situation with surprise.  He is fully aware of the place I am in my journey today, and holds great things in store for me. He is kind and patient and able to wait for me to get to where He needs me to be. I know He will strengthen me for whatever task lays ahead.

For now He is allowing me a moment to rest at our canyon retreat and reminds me not to worry about tomorrow.  Tonight my husband and I will lift our family and friends in prayer as we close out the year together as we normally do, enjoying one another's company in the quiet of our home.  The days of loud parties are distant memories that make us smile, but that neither of us miss. A quiet evening spent with each other is much more to our liking.  If we stay awake late enough, we will share a kiss after watching the ball drop at Time Square. In years past, we have managed to wake up from our slumber long enough to watch the celebration, pray for a  blessed New Year for all we know and love, kiss each other and thank God for another year together.

So even though wearied from a cold that has lingered far too long, stretched because of a year that had many rough patches, and tired, simply because I'm getting older, I can still rejoice.

God is still on His throne and carefully measuring out the moments for each of us.  As we head into 2017 I pray that each one of you will find the purpose and joy in following the path He has laid before you.  Rest when He says to rest, move when He says to move.  Above all things, trust Him.  He is worthy of all our praise and faithful to complete that which He's begun.

Have a blessed and safe close to 2016 and a joyous 2017.