Goodbye 2017, Hello New Beginnings

Written by a Cherished Resident...

I don’t know about you but I am ready for the new year and all; the changes it may
bring (GOD Willing). I suggest we all thank GOD for the year of 2017, for all the trails we
endured, all the lessons that were learned and all the triumphs that we earned. Let us
end this year with genuine thanksgiving to the LORD and start 2018 with anticipation,
excitement and joy for what our Heavenly Father has in store for us.

A fellow survivor here at Cherished has been contemplating and discussing with me
she feels/thinks about how the new year will be for her. Every time she does so she is
smiling, her face is glowing and she is over-joyed while she tells me she knows this
year will bring change for her. It is obvious that she is more then excited for the things
GOD has in store for her.

To be honest, for the last couple of weeks I have been trying not to think about what
the year of 2018 will look like for me in my own life. I’ve never handled endings well
and I am just as bad at beginnings. Endings for me usually brought about sadness or
disappointment and beginnings brought about fear. I know I am not alone in this way of
thinking . Just yesterday another young lady here at Cherished shared a similar feeling
about endings and beginnings, expressing how difficult it is for her to start things
when it is just going to end or how pointless it is to say hello when one day you will be
saying goodbye.

Kate had asked us all yesterday how we felt and handled endings and beginnings.
After hearing this young lady express something that was so sad and familiar to me, I
suggested we end this year with thanks and start the next year with excitement
because let’s be honest Church, our time is precious down here in this world and we
shouldn’t waste it with a fearful spirit or any other spirit that is not of GOD. We weren’t
made like that.

I have a suggestion (maybe even a challenge) for those here at Cherished, those of
you reading this and everyone else in the world. Ask yourself (and each other) “What
will the New Year be for You?”. I pray that you do not define 2018 by your past upsets,
failures, hurts, addictions, etc but that you will claim each and every one of GOD’s
promises he made to you. Not just for the next year but for all the days of your life.
Remember, HE created us Victorious and not with a spirit of fear but with a spirit of
power, love and a sound mind. May we begin 2018 exclaiming and proclaiming the
name of Jesus and end it with amazing and awesome news in what he has done for us.

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting GOD, the Creator of the ends of the earth. HE will not grow tired of the weary and young men stumble and fall but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.”
-Isaiah 40:28-31