A New Year
Just the other day I received an email from a friend who asked, “Can you believe it is already 2010?” That is the kind of question we ask each other every year when January rolls around.
Well, this year, I really can’t believe a new year has begun. It is January, but I’ve been out of sync since September! My father had a stroke and my husband and I moved temporarily to be nearer to him. We have only just recently moved back home and are getting our life back in order.
These last months, although stressful, have been full of blessings. At every step along the way toward his recovery, we have said, “Thank you, Lord.”
One of the first things we did with Dad was to sing “Jesus loves me.” Even though his speech was severely affected, he mouthed the words as he sang with us. This was a statement of his faith in his loving Lord and his confidence that He would be with Dad in his recovery.
The twenty-third Psalm says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.” Those are powerful and comforting words, indeed! The important key word in this passage is the preposition through. That’s through not in. Meaning we don’t stay there in the valley. There is the other side.
So, Dad has walked through the valley and is coming out on the other side, with his speech and mobility improving every day. Our family, though temporarily derailed during the last months of 2009, looks forward with eagerness to continue to sing God’s praises in the New Year 2010.
