My precious Mama, who is now in heaven, used to have a “scripture for the year.” I remember in 1992 her scripture was Habakkuk 3:17-19. Look it up. Basically, it says that even when everything falls apart, you can still rejoice in the Lord.
It ended up being prophetic, because 1992 was one of the hardest years for our family. My brother had cancer, my four-year old daughter had cancer, and my marriage fell apart, yet the Lord was faithful.
There have been many years in between and many scriptures for the year.
This past year, 2022, my scripture was Isaiah 40:4 which reads, “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.” KJV
We definitely had some mountains and some crooked places and some rough places this past year. Again, the Lord was faithful.
My scripture for 2023 is Philippians 1:9-10:
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. NIV
It seems like there is so much confusion and anxiety in our world today. It is hard to know what is true. It is hard to know who is telling the truth. It drives me crazy that you can literally read two articles or listen to two different news sources and find completely opposing statements. Someone is lying.
It also bothers me that we as Christians can sometimes be so quick to judge someone who believes or acts differently than us. We have to have both grace and truth. We need grace for understanding what their background and story is that has led them to their choices, and the wisdom to be able to speak the truth in love.
We need our love to abound in knowledge.
We need our love of the Lord and others in order to have depth of insight.
We need the Lord to help us to be able to discern what is best.
This is my prayer for me and my family. This is my prayer for you.
Happy New Year!
Julie Davenport 