Happy New Year!
I pray 2024 is your best year yet, and may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13)
2023 was my Promised land year: I turned 40 and walked in many promises God had made over my life. This year is my Canaan year, a time to cross the River Jordan and go to a place I'm unfamiliar with the Lord My Banner, Jehovah Nissi, ahead:
They did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
Joshua 5:12
This is the verse from my first day’s reading, January 1, of the devotional Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon. The day before, December 31, 2023, my verse was:
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Psalm 34:8
Clearly, the Lord is speaking. I found it strange at first to hear this Psalm. I have always found it difficult to internalize because what are we tasting? My Life Application Bible told me in the reference notes that it is like saying, “Try this—I think you’ll like it,” and it suddenly made sense. It’s an invitation to go deeper with the Lord and try all that he has to offer and see that it is good.
This fits so well with “eating of the fruit of the land.” I pray this means continued growth in provision for me as I look for what’s next professionally and work on my jewelry boutique (and this blog and ministry!). My prayer is that Sand and Seed would become self-sufficient and grow into a ministry of prayer, evangelism, and good works, a la my life verse:
For we are God’s handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
My prayer for 2024 is for good works to abound, and for Saint Monica, who paved the way for her son St. Augustine’s ministry with her prayers, would be the order in which I follow.
So let it be written,
So let it be done.
Amen.