2012 - Year Of Steadfast Faith

We spent New Year's Weekend at the beach with our sweet friends. After a fun New Year's Eve celebration with fireworks, blow horns, noise makers, fun hats, PFChangs, cheesecake and sparkly juice in plastic wine glasses, we started New Year's morning together reading The Word and spending some time in prayer. As each person took their turn praying about the fresh, new year, a picture began to form in my mind.

The little girls had spent the weekend skating on the sidewalks. I pictured Little C in full skate gear. Helmet, elbow pads, gloves, knee pads. She had her rollerblades on and was poised to take off skating...headed down into the depths of a canyon, completely obscured by a blanket of thick, gray fog.

As I pondered the foggy canyon and the fully-padded skater girl, the symbolism...the meaning...became perfectly clear.

Little C in her pads represents all of us in our spiritual armor. The Full Armor of God, spoken of in Ephesians 6. The canyon, foggy and path unclear, is the upcoming year - 2012.


We are all standing at the edge of this foggy, obscured canyon of 2012.Complete unknowns...trials and joys of 2012.

But fully clothed in our spiritual armor of faith, we have NOTHING to fear or dread.

We can take off, full speed ahead, with complete and steadfast faith in the One who loves us like no other, wholly and completely....the One who is the ONLY one worthy of our complete and total trust because He cares for us, has a plan for our lives that is ALL GOOD. No, we can't see what's ahead for this year. But we know WHO has us in His hands and we can walk boldly into 2012, fully confident of His love, His care, and His provision for each one of us, counting everysinglebit of it ALL JOY.

Count it all joy, brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds.

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

And let steadfastness have its full effect,

that you may be perfect and lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, 

when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.

You know that under pressure, 

your faith-life is forced into the open

and shows its true colors.

So don't try to get out of anything prematurely.

Let it do its work so you become mature and

well-developed, not deficient in any way.

James 1:2-4 - The Message

Steadfastness - endurance, patience, strength to keep going, loyalty in the face of trouble, fixed or unchanging, firmly loyal or constant, unswerving.

May 2012 be a year of ever-increasing, boldly walking, firmly loyal, steadfast faith for each of us.