Ringing out the old, ringing in the new

Just 2 days until a brand new year will begin. I am hoping and praying it will be a year with a little more 'gentle time' for many of us, including me and my whole family. It's been a rough one.

2008 has been a year of many 'learning opportunities' for me. So many trials to deal with but all situations to learn from and hopefully to not repeat mistakes made in handling them.

I found this article in an old folder of mine today-- something I must have printed off years ago thinking it was good and I might need it someday. Today was definitely the day, as I have dealt with more difficulties most of which I caused and feel terrible about:

TRUST IN THE LORD by Richard G Scott

This especially struck me in this article...

"Don’t let the workings of adversity totally absorb your life. Try to understand what you can. Act where you are able; then let the matter rest with the Lord for a period while you give to others in worthy ways before you take on appropriate concern again."

and this:

"Please learn that as you wrestle with a challenge and feel sadness because of it, you can simultaneously have peace and rejoicing. Yes, pain, disappointment, frustration, and anguish can be temporary scenes played out on the stage of life. Behind them there can be a background of peace and the positive assurance that a loving Father will keep His promises. You can qualify for those promises by a determination to accept His will, by understanding the plan of happiness, by receiving all of the ordinances, and by keeping the covenants made to assure their fulfillment."

I hope all of you will have a safe New Years Eve, and a good start to 2009. May this be a year when families will pull together to work for that which is right and good in the site of the Lord, rather than struggling with differences.

May we all strengthen our marriages, homes and the world by choosing what is right, not what is popular in Hollywood or in the media. May truth and honor and integrity prevail in this world.

Hug the ones you love today,
Bev
http://www.bevscountrycottage.com