A New Year. A Fresh Start.
Happy New Year!
I trust this post is finding you well in the new year. Ready or not 2011 is upon us and tugging at us to get going. There is something refreshing about a new year, its a chance to start over, and to become a better version of ourselves. I appreciate this photo, I think it speaks volumes about not only what new years' are about but more than that what Christ Jesus does for each one of us when we start walking in his footsteps. Gone, erased, is the old and in its place is the new and clean.
Living in a place that seems to incessantly snow its hard to escape the illustration of Jesus washing us white as snow. As much as its a bother I can't help but see the beauty of a freshly fallen snow. Snow makes an ugly world shine and sparkle, it covers over a multitude of ugly things and makes them into something incredible, beautiful. Unfortunately, like us when the sludge that is underneath gets brought to the surface and the snow is surrounded by cars that kick up dirt the snow becomes brown and grey. Our hearts, minds and souls are just like this. As long as we guard them and work at hedging ourselves in, in His presence, we remain pure, and holy. Purity and holiness don't just happen, its something that we contend for, that we work at and are intentional about. It comes with remaining in His presence, drinking from the River of Life, grounding ourselves in Truth and not settling for anything less than what we know the Lord asks from us. Its when we let down our guard and take our eyes off Jesus that the purity and holiness are compromised. Praise God that even when we do take our eyes off Him he is willing and ready to forgive us as soon as we run back to Him. So then let us run hard after the One who ravishes our souls and Loves beyond what we deserve!
I feel very strongly that 2011 is a year of New Beginnings. He truly makes all things new!
I pray that this year is a year of New Beginnings in my relationship with the Lord. I want new heights and new depths with and in Him. I want a new place of brokenness for the world and for myself. I want New ears, New eyes, a New heart, New hands, and New feet. Not physical ones, but spiritual ones.
For this new year I have great expectations for what the Lord is going to do. But I won't be surprised when He does the unexpected, and I won't be surprised when His "great things" look different than mine. But I will REJOICE in it!
I pray that God blesses you immensely in the upcoming year and that you encounter his son Jesus in a powerful life-changing way. Happy New Year!
A Day of Awareness: Child Trafficking
I invite you to read the story of child trafficking. Please click on the images to see and read them more clearly. (Resource: http://love146.org/slavery)
**Please be advised the following contains mature material that may not be appropriate for children.
Human Trafficking Awareness Day
"Slavery is more affordable, more widespread and more entrenched in 2011 than it was in ancient Rome or the antebellum South of America. Modern-day slaves, also called human trafficking victims, can be male or female, from any country or representing any ethnicity." ~Change.org~
In the United States, human trafficking victims are forced to work in the sex trade, as domestic servants, on farms and in factories. They are your neighbors. They are the girls on the street, wrongfully called "prostitutes", that so many of us turn our heads away from as we walk on by. They are the "illegal immigrants" that people seem to look at with disdain, working 16-18 hour days in sweatshops down the street, or next door to our houses. Turns out "made in the USA" doesn't always mean sweat shop free. Look Beneath the Surface.
Watch this stunning video from an organization called Not For Sale.
