Welcoming the New Year

We certainly aren't the only ones to have had a difficult year in 2016. We have been struggling with unemployment. In so many ways we have found ourselves discouraged over the past year. For me personally, this has been difficult to cope with spiritually. At various times I have felt disappointment, fear, a lack of faith and a failure of hope. It has been hard to keep praying.

When you are praying for the same intercession over such a long time, with no sign of an answer you start to question yourself, to doubt God's love. People tend to suggest that perhaps what you're asking for is not what God wills for you and for a while, I let that idea get to me. I could never believe though, that with two young children to care for that the Lord willed for us to be without the means to support ourselves. Didn't he say to us 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."? (Matt 7)
Didn't he give practical help to the blind and the lame? Hasn't he, through the intercessions of the saints, answered two thousand years worth of prayers and more? 

So at last I came to the realisation that I had only one choice: to believe. I had to know for sure that God would answer our prayers and trust in him to sustain us in our wait. 

At last, our prayers were answered, and in such a way that we could be in no doubt that God was in it. We will both go into the new year employed by the same University in roles that suit our backgrounds. My husband's job offer even came on the same day of his graduation - and his name day. 

I continue to pray, now that we can make a success of this opportunity we have been given. And to praise the Lord for his goodness, For the concern he shows for all his little ones, even in my own life. 

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour"