Prayer for the New Year

Being in Cambodia for the holidays was a totally new and different experience. I knew I should have expected this, but I think deep down I still expected the warmth and tradition that comes with the holiday experience I am familiar with. Honestly, the first time being away from family and friends for the holidays was much harder than I anticipated it would be, but God is faithful and He brought me through and gave me small blessings along the way.

Christmas in Cambodia was filled with a lot of food, a lot of singing, and a lot of dancing. The busyness of the Christmas season we experience in America was almost even intensified here, with parties and programs daily. The tropical weather definitely gave a different feel to things, and I found that Christmas is just celebrated differently in Asia, even among Christians. I most definitely missed the family time and the sense of community I have grown accustomed to in the past few years. However, this first Christmas away from home, I got a small glimpse of the community that the Lord is developing for me here, and I am truly thankful for the people that I was able to spend Christmas with, even though it was so different.

As for New Year's, I have never been a huge fan of this holiday so I don't think that I had many expectations. The celebrations continued, but I feel like this new year was harder, but in a way more special than any other new year I have experienced in my life. This year, being a new place and reflecting on all of the strange and wonderful things God had done in my life in 2010 really made me look ahead to 2011 in a way that I have never really approached a new year before.

Usually, my New Year's experiences involved getting dressed up, staying up late, and thinking and dreaming of all sorts of ways that maybe, just maybe, the new year ahead would be special and different from the year that was coming to a close. In short, it was never anything special, and ringing in the new year was more about empty wishes I had created for myself than it was about anything meaningful. But this year, when I began to look back on 2010, I was absolutely in awe of God's faithfulness and goodness.

2010 began just like any other year, but slowly it turned into one of the most significant years of my life. I had minor doubts and despairs throughout the first couple of months, and looking back, I began to have a small feeling that my life was about to change drastically. And that is exactly what happened. In the midst of a lot of pain and confusion, God led me to Cambodia. 2010 was no longer about the empty wishes of my life, but it became about God's very specific plan for my life. The second half of 2010 was full of drastic changes, but each and every change taught me more about myself, and more about God.

Because 2010 was so significant, looking ahead to 2011 became that much more significant. As I said earlier, it was so much harder to be away from family and friends than I anticipated, but that made relying and trusting on God that much easier, and of course that much more important. I am in a new place, but I know it is the absolute right place for me. I have met many new people, but I know that these are people whose love and friendship will stay with me for a lifetime. I have a new life, but it is a life that is completely focused on the work that God has called me to do. That doesn't mean that it's easy every day, or that I'm perfect every day, but by his love and grace I am able to look ahead to this next year with so much thankfulness and rejoicing.

As I reflected on the year gone by, and contemplated what I am really hoping and praying for in this next year, and years to come, the Lord brought a beautiful verse to my attention. And this is my prayer for my new year, and my new life in Cambodia:

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord forgave your, so also you must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your heart, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."

~Colossians 3:12-17