Ringing in the New!!

As I sit here quietly trying to concentrate on writing, I am interrupted by the noise of all of the fireworks going off in our neighborhood.  Kipper is barking, the TV is blaring (well, it can't be December 31st without Ryan Seacrest and Dick Clark.....how old is he anyway)?  Back to the subject.  What WAS the subject?  Oh, yes!  Trying to concentrate on writing.  All of these interruptions!   But are they?  Are they interruptions or are they topics?  A pessimist would most definitely call them interruptions, but an optimist would talk about all the reasons we have to be happy as this HAPPY NEW YEAR begins!  I'm happy to have a computer because I know that most of the world does not have access to one.  Happy to be able to read and write.  Much of the world is illiterate.  Happy to be living in a warm and cozy house.  Much of the world will go to sleep homeless tonight.  Happy to be able to see and hear fireworks right here close by.  Much of the world could never afford these luxuries!  Happy to hear our dog, Kipper, barking because He lives in this house with more comforts than so many people in the USA and abroad.  Happy to be able to watch TV and see the new year welcomed in right here in our living room.  Many in this world do not own a TV and will never be able to afford that privilege.  

Well, 2012 has already come to the East Coast.  The crystal ball has fallen in Times Square.  So GLAD!!!!  Now Kipper and Roy and I can go to bed.  Right?  Wrong!  It is only 11:00 here in East Texas.  Kipper has a little over an hour to hear fireworks and keep barking!  Well, so much for one of my new year's resolutions to go to bed earlier every night.  But wait!  That starts tomorrow night!!

As this year draws to a close, I want to wish all of my family and friends the usual.......good health, a secure job, all the comforts we enjoy from living in our wonderful country, and love and happiness!  But I want to go one step further and ask you to thank God for the freedoms that our country has been blessed with for over 200 years now.  Sometimes I wonder if "the ball will fall" on our country?  No country has ever lasted longer than 200 years.  We are going on 236 years now.  Let's make one of our New Year's resolutions to wake up every morning and ask God for wisdom for our country and her leaders.  To ask God to keep on blessing America.  To ask Him to forgive us when we have not looked like a Christian nation.  To ask Him to guard us from those who would get no greater pleasure than destroying us.  I'm ready for a fabulous, positive, and blessed new year!  How about you?

Jesus Cares and Hears Our Prayers

God Knows Our Cares and Hears Our Prayers

When one of us is suffering,
As we know we all will do,
When friends and family hurt,
And our options seem so few.

Take it humbly to the Lord
Who hears all our prayers,
Who always stands ready and able
To let us know He cares.

He walked this earth and knows our pain
He understands our fear.
And when we think He does not care
Is when he's very near!

The answer may not come
The way we want it to,
But God in all His wisdom
Will help us see it through.

For it's in all of life's trials
That we learn to be strong
So that when another suffers
We can help him along.

What we must do is keep our faith
In the One who took the nails,
And never doubting, we can say
That our Jesus never fails!

Judy Drewett