"They reported their findings to the Angel of God in the birch grove: "We have looked over the whole earth and all is well. Everything's under control."  - Zechariah 1:11 - The Message Bible

Normally, when I quote the Bible, I love to use either the New American Standard or the New King James, which are the two Bibles I've studied from over the years, but the Message translation applies here so well. 

A couple of entries back, I shared about the personal meaning that the song, All is Well, has come to mean to me.  Along those lines, I prayed for a Scripture.  You see, every year, my hubby and I ask the Lord for a scripture for the new year and He has always been so gracious and given us one.  In this case, the Scripture's mirrors the meaning of the song, All is Well, as well as one of my hubby's favorite lines, "Everything's under control."  Isn't that just like God?  We not only took this Scripture, Zechariah 1:11 to put on our dated Christmas ornament for this year (I make them), but also for our theme Scripture for the new year.  It applies in so many ways...

Had an interesting conversation with my husband in the wee hours of this morning.  (It's 4 am here - can't sleep.)  We've agreed to try to do something we always seem to have problems being disciplined enough to do - to take time to read the Word and pray together, not just "surface prayers", but deep, from the gut prayers and to see what direction He wants to take us in in this new year.  We both are feeling more and more of an intensity to go deeper with the Lord and to serve Him more intently and we're hoping that doing this will give us more direction.  Personally, I get the feeling that the Lord wants to birth something new and greater in us, but are we ready for it, are we ready to fine tune our ears and step out in whatever direction He wants us in?  I hope to report what the Lord does with this new commitment here and will use this journaling to chronicle whatever He does with us through this in the next year.  I'm really excited about it.  I wonder where this new adventure in surrendering to the Lord will take us. 

All this comes at a funny time, when you consider that my husband's company is planning to start layoffs in January.  (The likelihood of my husband being cut is small, but, in this economy, we can't ignore the possibility.  I would appreciate the prayers of any who see this.)  Somehow though, this new spiritual adventure has me less concerned about the layoffs and more excited to see what the Lord is going to do.  In any case, I am convinced that He will take care of us, even when it's hard to see...

On a somewhat related note, our 24 year old son and I help lead worship once a month for a couple of hours at a local International House of Prayer.  During our time there this Friday, something amazing happened.  No one was there except for us and we were praising the Lord and singing while our son was playing the guitar.  As that happened, on a number of occasions, we both felt a rushing of air around us.  We both checked.  No one entered or left.  We also felt a presence, at one point, to my right (his left) and later I felt a presence in front of me to my left.  I am convinced there were angels in that room with us.

I was dreading the new year for a whole lot of reasons - the job cuts, the economy, a new presidency, etc., but now, I'm actually excited to see what the Lord will do in this new year.  Will keep all who read this posted...Please keep my husband and I and our family in your prayers...Will add a specific list of prayers as I report further...Blessings to all...