January 2025 the beginning of a new year!  I like beginnings:  turning the page of a calendar, a new sewing project waiting to be started, a beautiful sunrise, and even being the first one to open a new jar of peanut butter and getting that first fresh spoonful!  My good husband would add:  opening a brand new container of coffee or the smell of a newly-plowed field

Endings are often viewed as sad.  It’s true; many are.  Sometimes endings are anticipated and celebrated.  For instance, those who finally have that diploma in their hands, labor and delivery are over and that new baby is resting in his exhausted mother’s arms, the surgery or treatments are finished, or leaving one job for a better one.  

Each one of us will experience many beginnings and endings during the coming year.  Babies will be born and family members or friends will pass from this life to the next.  Some will lose their jobs and others will find their dream job.  Couples will marry and sadly, couples will dissolve their marriages.  We will hear news that will cause smiles and celebrations and news that will break our hearts.  There will be questions and hopefully, there will be answers.  Battles won and battles lost.  The good news is that some of us will see our dear ones saved, baptized and beginning their new life in Jesus!  There will be folks sitting in our sanctuary who will be freed from addictions and attitudes that have kept them from living the abundant life Jesus offers.(John 10:10) Perhaps, just perhaps, this might be the year the Lord Jesus will return!  My prayer is that in the midst of it all Christ will be magnified.

Philippians 1:20  “according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.”

Take some time to meditate on these verses that I view as promises for this new year and beyond.

Proverbs 3:5-6  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him.  And He shall direct your paths.”

Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you.  He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

A seeking seamstress,

Denise Crites