A different outlook on the New Year

I read this quote here and had to share it with you.

Last night in our Bible study we talked about our "If Only's" and things that we put our hope in.  Quickly the conversation turned to a different topic: our fulfilled hopes.  We all realized that when our hopes were fulfilled, they were soon replaced with other hopes, showing us that our previous "hopes" were not satisfying.  (How's that for 3 "hopes" in a sentence?!)  Once our desires were met, we moved onto the next one.  Oh, how I've seen this pattern in my life.  Just 4 years ago in 2008 I was dying to have a ring on my finger.  Once that happened, I was dying to get married, then it was paying off, debt... what's next?  While I have loved being married to Daniel, he ultimately will not fulfill all of my needs.  I think he likes that pressure taken off him, too ;)

In the book "Keep A Quiet Heart," Elisabeth Elliot encourages us to focus on the most important of New Year's hopes:

“Will the young woman find a mate? Will the couple have a child? Maybe this year will be the year of desire fulfilled. Perhaps, on the other hand, it will be the year of desire radically transformed, the year of finding, as we have perhaps not yet truly found, Christ to be the All-Sufficient One, Christ the ‘deep sweet well of Love’”

This year I desire for one hope: to know Christ and to be found in Him.