Category: New Year Themes

Happy New Year 2025!

Happy New Year 2025!

Carolyn

Looking back, since starting this blog in 2008, I’ve written posts every new year except one. Because I rarely do anything with consistency, it’s surprising to realize this is my 16th record then of new year themes!

I had no plans to write something this year or even choose a “word for the year.” My spirit wasn’t in it this year, and I was going to let it go. However, the Lord gave me a word quite clearly.

My husband and I were watching the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve. Every time the coach from Boise State was interviewed, he said something about Jesus. Even if it was a brief comment at the start of the fourth quarter when asked about the game, he went back to Jesus.

I commented to my husband, “I wonder what people think of that. Is he connecting Jesus to winning this game, because Jesus loves both teams?” But I started to see that no, he was seeing this game as a platform, a stage for him to make Jesus known and what God has done for their team. He wasn’t going to miss that opportunity. It wasn’t about winning or losing, but proclaiming, even through a sporting event.

After the game, I saw this short video on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/1874482556433014834

I realized that that this coach has had a life-changing impact on his players because he’s been unafraid to tell them about Jesus. The point wasn’t whether a national audience understood this coach pointing to Jesus. Surely many wouldn’t get it. But some would. And those were the ones he was speaking to. It made me think about my own witness. Do I care to speak the name of Jesus?

The next day, New Year’s Day, having decided I wasn’t going to do a word for the year, I put my head down on my sofa to take a brief afternoon nap. As I fell asleep, I asked the Lord if He might be willing to speak to me while I slept. I don’t know why. I haven’t prayed that kind of thing in a long while. I woke up to a verse running through my head over and over. It was from Romans 1:16:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” (ESV)

Unashamed. Unashamed of the gospel. I started pondering this more.

Another verse that came to mind was 2 Timothy 2:15, one my grandfather wrote in my Bible which was a Christmas gift when I was 7 years old:

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (ESV)

As I began to put away our Christmas decorations, I opened a cabinet to store some items. I noticed a new Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest devotional there from a year ago that had been unused and unopened. I pulled it out, and the January 1 entry was about being unashamed. It begins with quoting Philippians 1:20:

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. (NIV)

Chambers writes, “We shall all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus on the point He has asked us to yield to Him.” The devotional encourages our surrender to Christ, describing how He will often bring us to a crisis, a crossroads in our lives, to help us decide to follow Him fully.

So many thoughts started to emerge about being unashamed of the gospel, unashamed of Jesus and His Word, recognizing again as we enter a new year that He is the answer to all our fears and sorrows and brokenness, that He is sufficient for all things. I never want to settle for less than this gospel power. I want to believe Him in all things. And I want to share Him and His Word as one who is unashamed because I do know Him and His power toward all who believe.

This is how I wound up with a word for the year: unashamed. As always, there are many applications we could make, but I want to see how God uses this word in the coming year, I pray for His glory.

Do you have a word for the year or something you are resolving to do in the new year? How is it looking 9 days into January? In this new year, I pray this verse from Romans 15:13 for anyone who might read this:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Are You Full?

Are You Full?

Carolyn

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

John 1:14, 16

An Introduction and Invitation

This year in Bible Study Fellowship, we’ve been studying the Gospel of John. It was written so that we might “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

John introduces us to Jesus as He truly is. Jesus has now entered the world, God in human flesh, and shows us who He is and what He can do. Among other things, Jesus gives us 7 “I am” statements (who He is) and 7 signs (what He can do).

I’ve been fascinated by the powerful presentation of who Jesus is. John moves from a stunningly beautiful prologue and introduction of Jesus in John 1:1-18, to John the Baptist introducing and baptizing Jesus, then Jesus calling His disciples, the wedding at Cana, the cleansing of the temple, a conversation with Nicodemus about being born again, the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus healing people, feeding the 5000, walking on water, and more—all before we get to His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, Judas’ betrayal, the Upper Room Discourse with His disciples, and His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus lovingly prepares His disciples for His departure and describes for them how He will provide for them still; they will not be left alone. Every step with Jesus shows us more of who He is, His heart for the world and for us, His power to heal and to save, His humility, servanthood, and sacrifice for us, and His ongoing power and presence through His Spirit.

There are so many ideas presented to us today about who Jesus is, but in reading John, as we see more of Jesus as He really is, the ideas we have about Him are clarified or corrected. He lovingly and graciously invites us to believe and to have life to the full (John 10:10).

Filled with His Fullness

After studying John’s prologue, I wondered about what it meant that Jesus was “full of grace and truth” and that “from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace.” Prior to this, the law had been given to them through Moses, now grace and truth through Christ. Something better than the law had come; in fact, the fulfillment of the law was here (Matthew 5:17). Interestingly, that word “fulfill” (plēroō in Greek) means to bring to “fullness” (plērōma), to make “full” (plērēs), these words all sharing a Greek root.

As I prayed about what that meant that Jesus was full of grace and truth and that from His fullness, we have all received, grace upon grace, various Scriptures came to mind.

  • In Ephesians 3, the apostle Paul prays that the saints in Ephesus would “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (3:19).
  • Paul encourages us to “be filled with the Spirit” in Ephesians 5:18.
  • Paul prays in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” This suggests a fullness to overflowing, so that as we are filled up, we might overflow. (See 2 Cor. 9:8.)
  • In the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
  • I think back to John 2 when Jesus had the servants fill to the brim (to the point of fullness) six stone water jars, used for Jewish rites of purification, with water that He turned into wine. Empty vessels, filled up, by the true Vine, who causes us to bear fruit as we abide in Him (John 15).
  • David writes in Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

I sense that this is only the beginning of my understanding of this word and concept, but I’d like to keep learning more, so “full” is my word for the year. (I’ve written before about why I choose a word for the year here, though I know and understand not everyone likes to do that!) Yes, it’s taken me almost 2 months of the year to sit down and try to describe this word for the year. But I keep finding a richer depth to who Jesus is and what He offers us.

Life to the Full

It seems we have a God who is able to fill us up with His love, His grace, His truth, His fullness, His Spirit, His joy, His peace, and does so to overflowing, that we might spill over into bearing fruit and being a benefit to the world He made and loves.

Are you full in Christ? Are you experiencing the full and abundant life He came to give? Do you want to? Ask Him today to, through Jesus, fill you up to all the fullness of God, to give you this full and abundant life, as you put your faith and trust in Him.

“… I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

John 10:10
Awake!

Awake!

Carolyn
A Word for the Year

People feel strongly one way or another about having a word for the year. One friend says, “It’s Jesus!” noting it’s all about Him, no need for another word. Someone else has said we should focus on the whole Bible, not a word. I get their thinking and fully support following Jesus wholeheartedly and being a student of His Word!

I used to be against the whole “word for a year” simply because others looked down on it. I didn’t want to launch out into something controversial. But once I started having one, I realized it can be something really special.

A word (or theme) for the year is not intended to take away from focusing on Jesus or the Bible. It’s intended to magnify Him, to give an extra focus as you study the Bible throughout the year. For example, in prior years, I’ve had words with themes around prayer, Bible reading, “firstfruits,” the Lord being our Shepherd, “whiter than snow,” “God is Light,” the fear of the Lord, being steadfast, being still before the Lord, and others. I so often think back to that in-depth study of the fear of the Lord or what it looks like to be steadfast rather than anxious and unstable. When I consider tithing or not tithing, I remember what I learned when I studied giving our firstfruits, not our leftovers.

To me, it’s like doing a Bible study. You might spend several months reading about the Divided Kingdom (as I have been with Bible Study Fellowship this year) or researching something theological. Looking in-depth at a slice of theology or a book of the Bible doesn’t take away from your overall devotion to God and His Word. In fact, it strengthens it as we grow and learn. Bible studies, sermon series, personal devotional times and more have the potential to deepen and expand our love for God as we think biblically about all things.

Having given this brief apologetic for a “word of the year,” 🙂 I will share with you what mine is: Awake!

Wake Up!

Several times over the last few months, as I would listen to a powerful sermon, I wanted to express “Amen!” or leap to my feet and raise my hands and rejoice, or even burst into tears with the beauty and accuracy of the message! Yet appropriately, we as a congregation sit so still, listening, surely each person absorbing it in personal ways, with God working in each heart. But I have wanted to shout at moments, first to myself, “Wake up! Don’t you hear it? Don’t you see it?” This warning, or this exhortation, or this needy world, or any number of other things. What am I to do with this that I’m hearing?! And then I walk away into my week, forgetting what was preached, seemingly unchanged by it.

End Times

Then, we have been visiting many churches this fall in our new community. Some have different theology on “non-essential” issues, like end times. These can be confusing things to study because we don’t know the day or the time of the Lord’s return. We have his Word to tell us about it, but people can interpret it differently. I take encouragement that even the disciples who walked with Jesus couldn’t always understand what He was saying directly to them until it later happened! For us reading it now in the Bible, it can seem pretty straightforward: “He was telling you… how did you not get it?” But we in our day are faced with the same sort of thing reading about future events; it can be hard to understand. So I’ve wanted to read and study more about these issues. I don’t expect I’ll figure it out perfectly or any better than the trustworthy people around me have, but it’s worth reading the Bible and giving it some thought, even while we trust Him and rest in all He has promised for those who know and love Him.

With all this as the background, I arrived at church on January 1, with two thoughts for words for the year: 1) Wake up! or 2) something along the lines of love, serve, give — if you’ve read my last blog post, you’ll understand why!

The service opened with this prelude:

Wake, awake for night is flying,
the watchmen on the heights are crying:
Awake, Jerusalem, at last!
Midnight hears the welcome voices and at the thrilling cry rejoices:
Come forth, ye virgins; night is past!
The Bridegroom comes, awake! Your lamps with gladness take, Alleluia!
And for His marriage feast prepare, for ye must go to meet Him there.”

“Wake, Awake for Night is Flying”

This echoes Matthew 25:1-13 with the parable of the 10 virgins. It tells us the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five were foolish, not taking any oil with their lamps; five were wise, taking oil. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, so they fell asleep. When he finally came, they awoke and trimmed their lamps, but the foolish ones did not have oil. While they went to buy oil, those who were ready went with the bridegroom to the wedding banquet, while the door was closed to the foolish ones. They said, “Lord, open the door for us.” And He replied, “Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.” The passage concludes with, “Keep watch [be alert, awake], because you do not know the day or the hour.”

It’s interesting to me that they ALL fell asleep waiting, but five were prepared when Jesus came, and five were not. The commentary isn’t on the fact they were found sleeping (similar to the disciples who slept instead of prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night Jesus was betrayed, Matthew 26:36-46, Luke 22:39-46). It’s on the fact they weren’t ready. The stories in Matthew 25 reflect that there were people who thought they would be safe and saved and that they knew the Master, but He did not know them. That’s a sobering thought.

The New Year’s Day church service also quoted Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.” How do we arise and shine if we do not awake?

As I came home and reflected on the church service, Bach’s prelude, Isaiah 60:1, and looked up Matthew 25:1-13 (the parable of the virgins), it brought to mind my desire to read the Bible and study more about what it says regarding end times, and these things all converged back to the thought in my head every so often last year of “Wake Up!” Awake!

Awake to the Things of God

Be awake to the things of God. Be awake to the things He wants to do in my life as I follow Him, how He wants me to spend my life and my time and my days, prayerfully filled by His Spirit to love and serve Him and others. Will I quench the Spirit or walk in the Spirit, allowing Him to awaken my heart to the needs of the world and how He might use me, being ready for the day I meet Him and for the day of His return.

Here’s how a word for the year works. I wrote this post above earlier this week. As I sat down this afternoon to read Joel for my Bible study that starts back this week, in Joel 1:5, it says, “Wake up…” He’s speaking to drunkards, while also talking about a locust invasion of the land, a judgment, and the Day of the Lord (a theme of this short book) being near. In Joel, God is calling His people to repentance, to “return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, and He relents from sending disaster” (Joel 2:13). As I study the Day of the Lord and what it is, as I think of God’s judgment but also His mercy, as I see the call to repent, I also see this admonition to “wake up” in light of these things!

Having a word for the year should not cause us to neglect God or His Word for some fanciful idea, but it should hopefully help us learn, to connect dots, to see a bigger picture and be deepened by a bigger vision. Do you have a word for the year? (No pressure now! 🙂 I respect all those who don’t like to choose one for many other reasons! But I also want to fortify those who like me once felt I couldn’t because others didn’t.) If you do have one, I’d love to hear in the comments! Blessings to you all this new year!

Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Ephesians 5:14
Happy New Year 2023!

Happy New Year 2023!

Carolyn

2022 will be a year to remember. Leaving our home and moving after 20 years! Getting settled in a new community. Having my mom join us. All good things, yet change can bring stress and joy, challenge and expectation, and it impacted everyone in the family, even the dog!

Yet, here we are at the end of the year, recognizing again the faithfulness of God, His intimate care for us through these changes, and soaking in the wonder of all He has done in every detail.

I try to read an Advent devotional each year. This year, it was Love Came Down at Christmas by Sinclair Ferguson. He walks through 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter on love. It was not what you would at first expect for an Advent book, but as I worked through each chapter, I began to see how appropriate it was. The love we are to have and demonstrate can only be had by knowing Christ’s love, demonstrated to us in His incarnation, life, death, and resurrection.

My husband and I memorized 1 Corinthians 13 when we were in high school. Something can become familiar, so you set it aside and forget to reference it, despite it being framed in our bathroom! But walking through its truth again was convicting. Consider the first three verses:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

I Corinthians 13:1-3

The person described might have a powerful faith, a faith that moves mountains! Speaking in the tongues of angels perhaps! Giving all to the poor! But the passage notes, if there is no love, it is nothing. He gains nothing. He is nothing. Sobering truth.

It then gives us a description of love:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Considering each of those phrases as to how Jesus loved us and how I love, I could see the massive gaps and the many, many ways I fall short.

Further, whereas prophecies may cease, tongues will be stilled, and knowledge passes away, love never fails, does not end, and does not pass away (13:8). In fact, the greatest of faith, hope, and love is love (13:13). How can we know and receive this love? How can we humbly give this love?

On December 23, around 9 a.m., we lost our power due to the storm that hit the entire country, it seemed. In the grand scheme of things, ours was a relative inconvenience, nothing like what many people faced. Our house dropped into the 40s, and it was cold and dark. By the second day, when the power did not come back at 5 p.m. as had been projected, we realized we needed food and a hotel. It was now Christmas Eve. It had gotten dark outside, restaurants were closing early. We arrived to the first hotel, and after probably 30 minutes of working to find us a room, we heard the verdict: no room.

I drove to another hotel, and thankfully, they had space for us and the dog. We found one fast food open until 11 p.m. (thank you, Cook Out!) and got some food. As I tried to sleep, I lay there at 3 a.m. wondering about this whole experience. Though I knew the Lord wasn’t absent and that He was near, I didn’t feel His presence. I thanked Him for the provision of a warm place and food, but I wanted to sense His nearness. So I prayed and asked him about this.

I began to think about Mary and Joseph not finding any room in the inn. This experience could make you ponder that a little longer! Mary leaving her home to have a baby, finding no place to go, no room, ending up in a stable to give birth to Jesus. Wow.

And then I began to think about how, though our Christmas had been so much fun so far, we hadn’t yet worshiped. We were longing for the power at that point so we could cook and open gifts, but we hadn’t been able to ponder the true Gift.

And 1 Corinthians came back to mind… “If I speak in the tongues… If I have the gift of prophecy… If I give all I possess to the poor… but have not love, I am nothing.”

And I realized the comparison. If I have all the decorations and a warm and beautiful home, if I have all the gifts and the wonderful family, if we eat and enjoy each other and have a special celebration, but Christ is left outside the door of either our home or our hearts, we really have nothing. Yes, fun; yes, much to enjoy. But without Christ, there is no true Christmas. Without His love and loving sacrifice, we would be without hope. That is Christmas.

And as I lay in that hotel room thinking, I realized God wants to have our hearts. He wants us to know Him. And He’s made a way and given us truth so that we can. Our hearts are like the inn — will we make room for this baby who is our Creator and King? Or will we leave Him outside our hearts, outside the door, content to have what seems like much, but lacking the most important thing, Love Himself.

We awoke on Christmas Day to hear the power was now projected to return December 27 at 11:30 p.m. We watched our home church’s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services by livestream. After our noon checkout, we found one restaurant open on Christmas Day, Applebees. As we waited for a table, my husband, who stayed home with the dog, called: we got power!! I turned around to my family: “We got power!” We ran to the car, raced to the house, started cooking our meals again and enjoyed opening our gifts. And I rejoiced in the fact that there is a reason for this celebration, Jesus, this baby born in the manger, our Savior and King. Without Him, life would be nothing, though it could seem we have everything. With Him, we truly have an eternal hope, a life beyond the grave, a purpose and peace and joy for today.

This was a Christmas to remember, a year to remember! I look forward with expectation and hope for the coming year, 2023, to see all God has in store, as we live each day before Him, trusting in Him.

Happy New Year! May you know the deep Love of our Savior, Jesus, who came to save us from our sins.