Hello friends, it’s been a while since I’ve written. Life has been a whirlwind for weeks and it is really good to have time to sit and write again. It is so therapeutic and a lot cheaper than a counselor! J I had a thought a couple of days ago about firsts and lasts but did not have the time to write. So, I’d like to share those thoughts if you feel like reading.
Let me begin this paragraph by saying that I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you will have a very blessed new year. The month of December was very different for us this year. There were many firsts and lasts. Adam and I had acting roles together in our Christmas musical at church– a first. He did his first solo every! It was our final Christmas musical with our dear friend and Pastor, Gene – a last. We also had our last meeting and our last service with him, his family and others on Christmas day – tough but exciting lasts. Dustin spent his final Christmas with us as a single man – another last and I started this blog, certainly a first! A friend invited me to a very intense Bible Study – a first because it is with a group of ladies at a church other than my own. I could list so many other lasts and firsts, but I don’t want to bore you. (Sorry if you are already bored.J)
Lasts are often challenging and even painful, depending on the circumstances, but sometimes lasts can be positive. Well, I may seem to be going in circles here, but I do have a point so I guess I should get to it. The thing about lasts is that they often lead to firsts! Let me explain…
When something ends, something else usually begins. Not always, but often. That reminds me of a verse that my pastor friend gave me a long time ago. In Philippians 1:6 it says this, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” I believe that this verse tells us that if God started it, He will be faithful to complete it. That is very encouraging to me, especially when I think about lasts. It may seem like the end of something, and it may be, but we have the hope of something new!
Change is sometimes a very difficult thing, and I’m not sure I like it. For the most part, I like things to stay the same; comfortable and familiar. Well, I’m learning that God does not always leave us in the comfortable and familiar places. If He did, we might never grow spiritually. We would never learn to trust Him in the tough times and we might miss the opportunity to see His power at work in our lives if everything stayed the same.
In this year of firsts and lasts, joyful and somewhat painful, friends moving on, weddings, new ministry opportunities, new church leaders, shaky economies, health issues, new babies, days passing quickly and fresh starts in the new year, I believe, as I’ve said before, that we always have One Constant in our lives if we are believers in Jesus Christ. We can trust Him. He already knows what our futures hold, He knows about the firsts and the lasts. He allows every one of them and He is right beside us as we walk through each of them. We can have hope that for every last, He has a new first for us. It may not be the same, it may not be what we expect, but it will be just what He has planned for us if we watch for it and follow Him. So, as we begin a new year, and as we face new days and new firsts and lasts, my prayer is that I will look to the One who can show me how to walk through them. Only He knows what is in store for us, but one thing I do know, no matter what comes our way, no matter who moves on from our lives, no matter what joys or sorrows may come, He is faithful. His mercies are new every morning and for that, I am so thankful!
“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.” 2 Thess. 2:16-17
Holy Bible, New International Version 1984
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