Goodbye 2014

I won’t be sad to say ‘goodbye’ to 2014 tonight. What a year.

When I wrote about 2014 being the Year of Grace last New Year’s Day I had no idea that our life would completely combust in the near future.

Little did I know how much grace I would need this year.

Praise the Lord for grace, because I have surely needed it. The knowledge that my salvation and hope isn’t based on how good I am or what I do right allows me to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

I worry about the effect of this year on the children.  It’s been the hardest year of their lives…it’s been the hardest of MY life! But I’d be naïve to think this will be their hardest year ever. My younger kids won’t even remember this time, but my older children will. I pray that when they hit their own rock bottom years they will remember the lessons from this year. How God put people in our lives to help us through. That they don’t ever need to be perfect. No matter how big they mess up, there is still grace.  And many years from now I pray they look on it as a year that taught them rather than as a year that damaged them.

So come on 2015! I’m looking forward to sharing the blessings that I KNOW are coming in 2015. I don’t think it will be an easy year, but it’s got to be better than 2014!

(I still have so much more to share from the end of 2014- Michael’s birthday, plus some pretty amazing Christmas blessings… I’ll sprinkle them in during the coming weeks.)