By Rebecca Holloway Somewhere in the middle of the rain, the merriment, and the holiday travel, the new year dawned. And here we sit with a chance to start over again. A couple of weeks ago, the Lord had given me my verse for the year and a couple of words. (With me, it never seems to follow the pattern of a single word. I usually get multiple words.) The verse hit me like a ton of bricks as I was flipping through the book of Isaiah to another passage. "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past." (Isaiah 43:18) And goodness, there are some things I need to forget. Some things I need to let go. Some things from which I need to move on. Last year I asked the Lord to make me fruitful in the land of my suffering (Genesis 41:52). I don't know how fruitful I really was, but I am ready to be out of the land of suffering. Suffering will never be gone from any of our lives, but I am ready to forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead. (Philippians 3:13) How will I do that? The other words the Lord gave me were obedience and surrender. I don't know exactly what the obedience means yet. But I do know the surrender means that I need to let go and fall into the arms of the One who knows what is best for … [Read more...]