My Prayer for 2016

How can 2015 be already coming to an end? It feels like it just started! Wow. What a year! So many joys as well as challenges. Yet, through all the ups and downs, through all the blessings as well as heart-aches, I look back and see God’s loving hand at work… through them ALL.

Through the lessons and challenges, God taught me… to press on, to trust Him and rely more on Him in the valleys, and to remember that I must live for eternity vs. for anything here on earth.

Through the blessings, God taught me… rejoice in His goodness and in His steadfast love and faithfulness through each provision.

Through the heart-aches, God taught me… thank Him for the ways He has been at work through them all, to trust in His sovereign will and way, to look to Him for all my Hope, Joy, and Satisfaction, and to also thank Him for how He was actually answering my bigger prayers for the year (to be satisfied in Him) vs. my little prayers for things to happen. God always knows best!

As I look back on 2015, I’m so encouraged to see all the many ways that God has truly answered prayer, deepened my walk with Him, shown me more of His goodness and faithfulness, and taught me to find my hope, joy, and satisfaction in Him alone. In every up and down, my God has been so faithful!

In looking ahead to 2016, I want this year to be a year of seeking after my Heavenly Father... after Him and His will vs. my hopes and dreams. 

I want to relinquish any ways that I try to “make my dreams happen’ and to instead seek to know my God more, to delight in Him, and to please Him by serving Him right where He has me. 

These verses and songs speak of my heart’s desire to seek my God, to know Him more, and to honor Him with my life:

“One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple…. When you have said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart says, ‘Your face, Lord, will I seek.” – Psalm 27:4,8

“O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So, I have looked upon You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory. Because Your steadfast love [O Lord] is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; in Your Name I will lift my hands.” – Psalm 63:1-4

My Lord alone can give the abundant, satisfying, and fulfilling life that my soul longs for. And He gives it freely both now and for all eternity! 

“You faithfully supply my needs / According to Your plan / So help me, Lord, to seek Your face / Before I seek Your hand / And trust You know what’s best for me / When I don’t understand / Then follow in obedience / In every circumstance // With all my heart / I want to love You, Lord / And live my life / Each day to know You more / All that is in me / Is Yours completely / I’ll serve You only / With all my heart.” – by Babbie Mason

O Father, I want to earnestly seek You in this coming year! I want to rejoice in You, to delight in You, and to honor You with all that I have and with all that I am so that whenever You call me Home, You can truly say, “Well-done, my good and faithful servant… enter now into the joy of the Lord.” (Matt. 25:21)