The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
(Lamentations 3:22-24 ESV (emphasis mine))
Goodness, where in the world did the year go. It seems to me as just a blur. You know what they say: “As you get older, the years are going faster!”; I sure can attest to that.
The past year has been full of learning for me; work-wise, blogging and also with my photography. To be honest, it has been a very humbling year for me.
Blogging: I stepped back from LWG in the last quarter as a contributor. I felt empty, not able to fill others’ cups. I also didn’t blog much here on “Grace Alone…”. Who wants to ready daily stuff of a 50-something woman?
Work-wise: At the beginning of the year, our company reduced its work-force. One of the reduction included my boss. I needed to adjust to new rules and management. Let me tell you: it took me awhile to adjust to the change. But today I live by the motto: “the only constant in the work-force is constant change”.
Photography: In May of this year I upgraded my camera to the semi-professional model. I really enjoy photographing with it. I have learned so much over the past 7 months. I feel very comfortable with photographing in manual mode. It is challenging, but oh-so-much-fun 🙂 …
Although I do not write out New Years resolutions (I broke all of them in the past), I do always have plans for the New Year. Here are a couple of points for 2012:
- Grow closer to the Lord. Not so much head-knowledge, but more heart-knowledge (I think you know what I mean).
- I love to cook (really). At the end of this year I have found a new passion for cooking. I will try more new recipes in 2012; I will combine that with my passion of photography (who knows where that leads).
- I want to blog more (again)…especially on my personal blog. I already have some ideas that you might enjoy as well.
- I plan on carving out some time to read more and maybe review some of the books I have read.
- Support more the small business world, locally and across the country
- …and maybe I finally can get my house totally organized; especially my two spare rooms are full of ‘junk’!!!
So this week, I am thankful for new beginnings. Even though our God grants us new beginnings every day, we like to start fresh with a new calendar year (not sure why that is)…
What are you thankful for this week? Please do share with us by leaving a link to your Thankful Thursday post below.
Thank you for stopping by today (and reading through the little longer post). Remember: God gives us a fresh start every day; make the most of each day.
Love, peace and Happy 2012,
Iris
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Wow! I cannot believe that it is the last TT for the year 2011! I just went back and looked at some of my old TT posts and it blessed me to see how God has been with me throughout time. His love never has failed me. Now that is something to be thankful for! Thank you for your heart and passion Iris, I appreciate you so much! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
YES! I’m so thankful for new beginnings ~ one each morning, week, month, and one each year… and all the countless ones in between!! All the best in your goals this coming year!
I haven’t made resolutions in years but I do need to make some major changes – one day at a time, sweet Jesus – The first is to improve my prayer life – praying on that one to be sure! I like your list, encouraging. Hugs!
Have a beautiful new year, love you.
That to me is what the New Year is about… “New Beginnings” each year. Thank you for sharing today!
I’m excited to hear what God has placed on your heart to write over this next year! I always find encouragement in your posts. This year I also want to grow closer to the Lord. I desire my heart-knowledge of Him to flourish! I also want to learn more about Him as well…but those go hand in hand, don’t you think?
Blessings to you, Iris, and Happy New Year! Joan
I’m late in getting my post up this week. Will you share the recipes you try here? I like to try new recipes as well, but it’s easy for me to get in a cooking “rut” with always the same things! Have a good week!
Bethany
Yes, Bethany; I will certainly share the recipes here on my blog. I already have some in mind to share (and have the photographs for it :))
So what do you like to cook? Have you joined Pinterest. It is addicting and I get a lot of great recipes.
2011 was a year of adjustment for me too. Hugs my friend. Happy New Year.