Every Epic Story Begins with an Empty Page
Welcome! Happy New Year!
Whether you’re an old friend or a new one, I’m glad you’re here.
And I pray that you’ll be blessed as you linger in this place where faith is spilled and souls are filled.
If you like what you find, I hope you’ll stop by often or find me on Facebook or Twitter. Better yet, I’d love to connect with you in person. I’m scheduling speaking commitments for 2016 and I would be delighted to join you at a special ministry event this year.
Over at Encouragement for Today and here on the blog, I’m talking about how emptiness and expectation go hand in hand.
Keep reading and don’t forget to sign up for my give-away before you go.
******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* It was the empty walls that finally caused my daughter to cry.
She hadn’t shed tears when we’d piled all of our earthly belongings into a moving truck just days after a new year had begun, and we’d bid goodbye to the beloved place we’d home for a sweet decade.
She hadn’t cried when she’d roamed the frozen streets of our new neighborhood or trekked through our backyard woods without a friend with whom to share the great adventure.
She hadn’t cried when we’d toured the hallways of her new school void of familiar faces or shared history.
But two weeks after we’d moved to our new house in our new town in our new state, I found my normally-spunky girl curled up in a morose ball on the big leather sofa in the living room.
My stomach had lurched at the sight of those red-rimmed eyes, and I’d swallowed an unwelcome lump of tears as I’d crossed the room to join her grief.
My own heart was still raw from a thousand good-byes; my mind overwhelmed by the challenge of helping five kids transition into our “new life” on the frozen shores of Lake Michigan.
Our leap of faith had left me poured out and empty, and I had nothing to offer my snuffling girl but the gift of my tattered presence.
So I sidled up beside her trembling frame and squeezed her slender fingers in the palm of my hand.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” I asked. And then prayed silently praying for wisdom as I awaited her answer.
She buried her head in my lap and put words to her ache.
“I hate these walls.”
I shifted my gaze to the barren wall behind the couch where we sat, the one that loomed barren, twelve feet from floor to ceiling.
“The walls?” I asked, confused.
I was expecting a different dirge. Cries for treasured friends 450 miles away. Tears for the comforts left behind–the school that had been home since kindergarten, the youth group leader who had been like a big sister, the grandparents who had lived just across town—
But the walls? That was an unusual lament.
“Yeah,” she murmured. “They’re just so empty…”
I stared at the muddle of moving boxes still stacked in the corner of the living room where we lingered, and I begged God to give me words for the fragile grief that hung between us.
I closed my eyes and tried to picture our old walls… the ones in the house we’d just left behind. Walls filled with family photos and favorite Bible verses, treasured artwork and familiar frames. In my mind’s eye, I could see our old living room with the chipped paint and the greasy fingerprints, the unattractive dents from indoor tag games gone wild and the hideous nicks from living room dance parties and rowdy games of hide-and-go-seek.
And I suddenly understood a small slice of my daughter’s gloom.
While the blank walls of our new home may have been this exhausted mama’s dream—-no smudges to scrub or dents to repair, no outdated colors to change or tarnished trimmings to dust– they were a sad sight for my sanguine daughter’s soul. The empty walls of our new home were missing the marks of our family’s story.
The empty walls were like a blank page still waiting for script; a fresh canvas begging to be splattered with the holy hues of cherished memories–the good, the bad, and the ugly.
My melancholy one lifted her head from my lap and turned to stare at the wintery world beyond our window.
And suddenly, a long-ago memory edged it’s way into my weary mind.
“Do you remember when you were little and you wanted your very own prayer journal?” I asked my daughter with a gentle whisper.
My girl cocked her head, confused by my seemingly random question.
But then she nodded and cast me a subtle smile.
“Yeah,” she replied, her watery eyes dancing with a faint glimmer of silent laugher. “If I woke up early in the morning, I would always find you in that big chair by the window, spending time with Jesus.”
She smiled just like the pajama-clad little girl who used to snuggle beside me on those long ago mornings. “I loved to sit with you and watch you write on the pages of your prayer journal,” my daughter remembered aloud.
I nodded and wondered when this beauty beside me had outgrown my lap.
“And I used to wish I could read cursive so I knew what you were writing,” she continued. “I’d always ask you what those words said…”
“And I told you that those words were the story God was writing with my prayers…” I replied.
My daughter pulled her knees to her chin and let an amused sigh escape from her lips.
“When I finally gave you your own journal, do you remember what you said?” I asked.
My girl shook her head.
“You complained that I’d given you a broken book,” I reminded her as I let a bemused giggle slip from my lips “…Because you thought your prayer journal should be filled with words like mine!”
We sat on that couch framed by empty walls and fresh clean paint, and we laughed together at the memory of a four-year-old’s once-upon-a-time confusion.
My daughter glanced at those bare walls, and I wondered if she was thinking about that empty book that hadn’t been so broken after all.
I held my girl’s gaze and squeezed her fingers, still cupped in mine. “Of course, once I realized your frustration, I explained that your book wasn’t actually broken. I told you how all of those empty pages were really the best kind of pages a girl could have because they were just waiting to be filled with your very own God-stories and your very own prayers….”
My daughter nodded in remembrance. “And after that, I couldn’t put that journal down!”
Sometimes that’s how it happens, isn’t it?
There are seasons when our optimism grows dim or our ambitions drain dry; when our dreams draw a blank or our expectations seep empty.
And in those times, it’s easy to grow unsure, to assume something’s wrong.
With us. With life. With God
But barren does not always mean broken.
And empty does not always mean hopeless.
In fact, sometimes our weak and empty spaces can become a consummate canvas for Heaven’s holy hues; a sublime score for a fresh song of gripping grace.
Sometimes, as my daughter learned long ago, the empty pages are the best.
‘Cause they leave plenty of room for God to script His story.
Plenty of room for scribbles of faithfulness and scrawls of answered prayer.
Plenty of room for a spellbinding saga spun straight from our Savior’s pen.
After all, we are a living letter inscribed by the Anointed One, covered with holy ink and written with passionate purpose. That’s gospel truth.
And when we abandon our hearts to the Author of Life, when we empty ourselves of expectation and surrender our stories to His divine imagination–He is free to script an adventure that is filled with immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine.
And every epic tale begins with an empty page.
Maybe, just maybe, God is longing to write a new story with you this year.
Perhaps that hollow feeling inside is just the prelude to a brand new chapter penned by Holy hands.
The sun was beginning to cast dusk’s shadows across the bare walls and my daughter’s trembling hands had grown still within my grip.
Suddenly a cacophony of racing feet interrupted our peaceful reverie.
“You’re it!” my son hollered as he and his little sister came racing down the stairs.
A small rubber ball flew like a red streak across the room.
And my littlest girl dove onto the couch with a squeal just as the ball soared past her shoulders and smacked the bare wall beside us.
“No ball tag in the house,” I reminded my rambunctious boy.
“But we can’t play this outside,” he argued. “It’s getting dark.”
I shook my head with a firm “no,” and my disappointed son slunk along the wall to retrieve the ball he’d flung in fun.
A lame, “uh-oh…” floated from the corner behind us.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Um, nothing…I guess I shouldn’t have thrown so hard….”
I rose to inspect the wall where my son squatted and he pointed to a colorless dent in the paint.
I expelled a quiet sigh.
“I guess it’s starting to look like home,” I declared as I ran my finger along the first scribble of our story on that empty wall.
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Today I’m giving a way a beautiful hand-crafted journal filled with crisp, EMPTY pages.
Think of it as a paper palette just waiting to hold the story God is going to script with you in 2016.
To enter to win, just tell leave a note in the comments and answer this question,
“What prayer would you love to see answered in the new year?”
That my daughter would turn away from the life she has chosen and return to God and accept His forgiveness
I had trouble with my device today and could not read the current First 5. I am so glad I did! I was able to read this former devo and blog. I thank God! I needed it! Please pray for my family to have a close walk with Jesus Christ and one another and my marriage to be renewed and be what God designed and desires it to be. Thank you.
I pray God will give meaning, purpose and fill the emptiness in my life as I start the new chapter called retirement.
My prayer this year is that I will be completely surrendered to God in every area of my life. I want my life to reflect His shinning light within me. I want to be the wife, mom, teacher, singer, Christian, friend, sister, mother, daughter, writer, that Christ wants me to be.
I pray that I grow in the Spirit and love my children and husband the way God wants me to and that I learn to find my joy and peace in God on a daily basis!
I so enjoy reading your blog and this post really spoke to where I am right now. This year I am asking God for those Ephesians 3:20 answers to prayers for wisdom and direction for our family with new jobs, schools, friends, and a new church. This chapter of our lives seems to be coming to a close, and only God knows “the rest of our story.” 🙂
My wish for the new year is restored mobility for my husband and I, and the patience, strength and courage to do the work to get there. I also pray for a fulfillment in my life as it exists day by day, to fill the emptiness of disappointment with the joy of risen Savior who will supply my every need — if I let Him!
My prayer this year is that I put Jesus first in all situations. I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and go to Him for everything- and hear and feel his response and direction!
Thanks for sharing! I have found myself “empty” at the start of this new year and wondering and praying for God’s purpose to be revealed anew. Maybe I don’t have to be a page filled with words to be “full..” God has emptied me and now I am an empty vessel…ready.. A sweet lady told me last night at church, God’s looking for a vessel to work a miracle through. My prayer for this year is that God would bless me with the ability to trust Him to write my story…to be yielding and submitted to His will for my life.
Praying for healing for my family and myself physically, mentally,spiritually, and emotionally-that we grow closer to the LORD and to each other.
Peace in the overwhelming moments.
My husband lost his job due to downsizing over 2 years ago. He desperately needs a job. That is the prayer I would love for God to answer this year.
After the birth my first grandchild 4 years ago, a fiesty little girl who arrived 9 weeks early by emergency c-section & weighed 1 lb 14.6 oz (but she is now a happy, healthy four year old) and a miscarriage of twins a few years ago, I am anxiously awaiting the birth of our second grandchild in June and praying for the safe delivery of a healthy, full-term baby.
My husband to stop drinking and find life with Jesus refreshing again and my despair to be transformed to joy.
In 2016 I’m asking God to enlarge my territory and to use me in mighty ways to reach the lost. Thank you for your inspiring words.
I am so excited to find your blog! I thought something was wrong with me, im feeling that empty hollow feeling. Stumbling into the new year empty and drained, thinking what can I do for God feeling this way. My prayer is as I focus on God He draws me closer into a deeper relationship with Him and turn my emptiness into a great work-testimony for Him. So much has been going on in my life I want His Light to shine through me, that He is Real, and my life reflects that. Please Pray for me! Thank You!
Healing and guidance for my pastor husband, and a new church for him to serve that will love and care for him and our family.
I would absolutely love for the Lord to answer my prayer of having a better relationship with two of my family members, one of which I have never had a good relationship with. It would be such a beautiful relief to me and would mean a lot less stress and strife in my house if God answered that prayer for me this year. I’m going to do everything I can to put in the work myself, but I’m really hoping He will meet me halfway.
I love your heart. You seem to blog about what I need to hear. The Holy Spirit is awesome like that. Me and my little ones are loving the Nativity book, btw!!!!! We are still reading it pretty much every night!!!
I understand completely how your daughter was feeling. Lately I feel like the walls of my heart are empty and bare. I’m not sure why I feel this way and until I read this devotion, I didn’t have the words to express how I feel. I would like the Lord to provide me with a purpose for my life. I am not asking to do great and mighty things for God’s kingdom. Things like leading worship for a major event or running a bible study at church or begin a blog that hundreds of people read daily. I just want to feel like getting up and going to work every day is worth something. That I am providing value in some small way. I feel like my life is meaningless, but I know that it isn’t. I guess I just need to be closer to God and dive more deeply into my bible reading. Thanks for sharing from your heart and family today.
I pray that God would show me what I am supposed to be doing in this new chapter of life. What my new purpose is.
I have been praying for 12 years for the Lord to provide a way for me to be a stay-at-home mom to my 4 kids (I am the “bread-winner” in our family so taking a pay reduction is not an option – but I know God is bigger than that). I pray that he will answer that prayer this year.
For our marriage to be restored, finances fixed, our son to get a job and direction for his life. Energy.
I know that’s more than one but I am so there and I thank you so for this post! I feel like 26 years of Army life has caught up to me this last year, the moves, deployments, etc and I have nothing to give. But I love to decorate and this post about empty walls really touched me. Thank you again.
I pray that Gpd shpws me how to fully trust him, to fully rely on him and to be obiedent. I pray he brings peace to my home and my family. I pray he shows me how to make my priorities a reality. I want Him to be first and then everything else as He desires for me.
I need to know the Lord more and more in such a way that I can become very close to Him and become more like Him. i want my grown children to see my love for Him and Him in me so that they will know that He is their true light – the answer for everything.
What would I feel like or want this New Year. That might be hard to say. I am a very fortunate and grateful woman. I am widowed by my husband Glen. We were married for 24 years. He died with pancreatic cancer. My mom died right before him and before that my father died of lung cancer. My children were five and seven when all of this happened. The tragedy went on for 20 years. My children took care of my parents and my husband as well as myself into the night.
I then came back to the state that I grew up in. I lost my right leg to bone infection. I also survived lung cancer losing half of my left lung. My daughter has stuck beside me through this and helps with my disabilities. Through all this grief and sickness Jesus has carried me on His arms and loved me. When I am empty I turn to him. I am a survivor because of him and my daughter. And a very close friend that I have. I love Jesus and our walls in the apartment are being marked with love also, a family love. I enjoyed your post. God bec we it you always, love, Patti
My prayer for this New Year is:that I will remember that God’s strength is available to me! Cause He has given me the word strength for this year! What every comes my way I will be successful because of God grace and strength. That lives inside of me!
I’m praying for Christian spouses for my sons.
My prayer is that I accept God’s will for my life and walk in it daily. That I trust Him completely, no matter whatever situation great or small arises in my life that I will trust our Lord and savior.
My prayer is to focus and be closer to God. To be a good example to everyone Around me. For to show me His purpose for my life. That my children get closer to Him and serve Him more. All I pray in Jesus name, Amen.
My prayer is to focus more on God. To be a good example to everyone Around me. For to show me His purpose for my life. That my children get closer to Him and serve Him more. All I pray in Jesus name, Amen.
The prayer that I would love to see answered in the new year is this: That we would be able to build relationships with the college students at the UW and become a presence for Jesus on the campus.
My prayer is for my soul to learn to rest in God, knowing that my Hope comes from Him. The past year has been a more difficult year and I’m ready to move forward with God’s healing. Thank you for this devotion.
I pray that God will open doors that He wants me to walk through as we are following Him into 2016.
Thank you for this life story this morning and the devotion at Proverbs 31–they were exactly what I needed to read and hear today. Our 2015 had a rough ending and 2016 the same beginning, which has left me exhausted, drained, and feeling very weary. My prayer for this new year is one of renewal and fresh perspective, healing and good health, and for God to pour into me new hope!!
I want God to fill my emptiness with His glory.settle and give me peace of mind
Salvation for a wonderful son-in-law.
This year I pray that the Lord will show me what His purpose for me is.
In this new year I need to AGAIN try and give control over to God for everything! Our only daughter is graduating from college and heading off to graduate school. She is so shy and has been very protected and I am overwhelmed by the “what ifs”. I desperately need to find a way to let go and give Him the control before I go crazy from the fear. I need daily to remind myself of His hand in her life and in mine. This journal would be a great place to do that. Thanks for offering such a beautiful give away.
Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with all the prayers I need to be doing for others. Maybe so much so I don’t pray that much for me. It somehow seems selfish. I know that isn’t true but maybe the prayer I would love to see answered is for me. As a pastor’s wife with so many people who are broken, I forget I’m broken too and need time to pray and believe God will work on my pain and burdens, the prayer to find a balance.
Loved this reminder. This year I pray for healing from pain; and if not that to see purpose and joy in my pain. This journey has been going on 19 years and I am weary and feel useless at times. But God…uses everything. I would love a glimpse of it 🙂
Thank you.
I am praying for more of God this year! Last year was very hard(church, parenting!!, financial, friends with marriage problems, lots of stress in every area of life, to name a few), so we are really seeking God and His wisdom, strength and peace every day! Oh, how I need Him every moment of every day!!!
As the new year approached, I reflected on the one that would soon end. I thanked God for the victories, I even thanked Him for the challenges the year brought, because without them my faith probably would not have grown. This year I am trusting God to take my career to heights that even I cannot imagine. I’ve been a supply teacher for years. This year I am trusting that my desire for a permanent contract will be answered.
Thank you so much for this reminder today. 2015 took everything out of me and has left me broken hearted. I lost my mom, two babies both in my second trimester, and my beloved cat. I stressed and worried so much about hard things that made myself sick with shingles. And it was a struggle to keep our bank account anywhere near positive. I am numb,weary, and heavily grieving all at the same time and I just don’t know how to plan or look forward to a new year. Through it all though my trust and love for Jesus grew. He is my best friend and my constant confidante. I know He poured his blessings out last year and He is the only reason I made it through. Thank you for your words and the reminder that this feeling of emptiness isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The biggest prayer that I would like to see answered is exactly what you’ve written, that God with write a new story with me this year. that he will take my emptiness, my grief and pain, my feelings of not really knowing how to hope; and write a better story, a bigger story.
After reading your Pro31 Encourgement for Today I thank you for some encourgement. The last two years have been horible with my 23 year old grandson drowning in a freak accicent in a street sweeper truck in May 2014 and my husband found out he had non small cell lung cancer at the end of June. It was a non curable non smoker cancer and very aggresive type. No treatment worked and he passed away April 23, 2015 6 days after our 27 anniversary. I have been empty since then and keep trying to go on living as he made me promise him I would but I am very tired right now and the Holidays just wiped me out as he was not there. I didn’t even send out Xmas cards as I could not do it with just my name. So I try to let others know enjoy what you have while you have it because it can go away so fast and you are never prepared for it. Pam R
to give it all to Him instead of relying on my own. He is in control, to have faith and trust in His promises
Mine seems simple but very very much needed by my heart & mind this year. I simply want to walk in awareness having trust & faith in my Father daily…maybe minute to minute KNOWING beyond doubt, my own doubt, that everything going on in my life is in His control & his sweet grace will get me through & give me what I need to endure & grow. I just want More if Him. Blessings to yall!
My Daughter has anxiety disorder. I pray that in new year she will be filled with calm n peace n know that God is in control. She will realised that God is always with her, holding her hands as she go thru these struggles.
Thank you for sharing this! It was much needed on this end. My prayer is that we will fully and completely rely on God to get us through and allow his grace to fill us up.
I thought of my sweet 12 year-old grand-daughter while reading your beautiful words. My prayer is for her today.
I am praying for wisdom regarding my work situation and that God would give my husband and I another child.
Thanks for the reminder that God is in these empty moments!
Lord please show me what I am gifted at that I can do as an act of worship unto you and an act of service to others.
My prayer for this New Year is that I would be more focus on God and His plan and His Purpose for my life! To be a better example to the women God has placed in my life. My love for God grows deeper and stronger everyday. And my prayer is that I allow that love to spill out over everyone I meet.
Wasn’t my tank full just a few weeks ago at the onset of Christmas? It’s amazing how fast it emptied! ! I came crawling and crying to His Word today through your Proverbs 31 devotional and then your blog. Thank you for your scripture references and your story. We all have empty, fresh walls today at the start of a new year. May God fill them with his grace and love.
To reconnect with the Lord in an intimate way. Ive been angry and don’t want to become bitter about losing my ministry position. I’ve been serving for 28 years and now don’t know what to do.
My husband died in 2011 and I seem to still be wandering through this life with no purpose. I was always just a wife and a mother, now my children are married with families of their own and my husband is gone. I would love to just find contentment again and a new direction.
Thank you for your devotional today. I’m a public school counselor, private piano instructor and church children’s choir director – and my prayer for the new year is that I impact the lives of the children I touch by showing them Jesus with “skin on!” So many of our students don’t even know what hope is – unless they are hoping to not get caught skipping class. My heart breaks for them because many of them don’t know anything else and I pray that every interaction I have with them shows them God’s love and compassion. They all know that I’m tough on them too – which is also compassion. Because if we have knowledge of any kind that will help other people do better, live better, achieve more – why not share that with them?
I pray for courage, grace and healing for my sister (and her family) as she battles cancer.
What prayer would you love to see answered in the new year? I would love to see God soften my husband’s heart and bring him out of his anger, back into peace and hope.
My husband and I were talking just this weekend about how we see life. Because I am so weary and tired from the rigors of the everyday grind, I tend to complain more than I ought. He asked me a question that stung at the time, but I am thankful for now. He asked me to rate my life on a scale of 1-10. I answered hesitantly, but honestly that I view it as a 5 or 6. Not terrible, but not awesome. He agreed. After thinking for some time I realized that we both described life as mediocre. Who settles for mediocre? I also then realized that our joy was gone and we are just going through the motions. After talking to him, we decided to not settle, but try to make life great again and filled with joy. This is the prayer that I am going to ask God to answer this year. The thing I love is that I know He will because it is His desire for our marriage too.
My number one prayer is for my precious daughter, Elizabeth to be healed and freed from depression and anxiety, which control her life. Freedom in Christ – to live her life to honour and glorify Him.
I prayed for your daughter, and for you. I know the struggles of depression and anxiety too well myself. They are so destructive. I pray the brings people into her life to walk along side her and to help her. I pray also that you will be able to encourage and support her. I suggest reading the book “Depression: Looking Up From the Stubborn” by Edward Welch. It gave me such a different perspective, one that is biblical and sound. It not only helped me heal, but to also understand how others struggle as well.
For some of our 5 children (ages 2-10) to accept God’s gift of salvation & to begin their own close journey with Him.
For God to completely heal my sister Joyce’s cancer and to draw her fully and completely into His grace to receive Him and accept the beautiful free gift of salvation! I pray this too for all the lost near and far! Thank you for your words and sharing God’s truths with us.
I pray for my soon to be 17yr old daughter to no longer feel empty. I pray that God fills her empty spaces with exceedingly more than she ask or thinks. I pray she will always stand strong for the Lord and not be persuaded by anyone to follow man-made legalistic church rules but just follow after God hard. To be a Jesus Follower saved by GRACE !
Our last year has been one of many transitions. One of which, our Pastor and his wife (dear friends of ours) have decided to move forward in their journey of serving the Lord, which causes them to move away. My prayer is that their family of 5, would be provided for, encouraged, cups filled, solid Christ centered relationships formed and that they would see the blank walls in their new life as canvases for the Lord to fill. May they know His strength, grace and power more now than ever. After a tough year, their souls need filled w His Spirit, and fresh new breath breathed into them…may they continue to preach and be a living testimony of God’s word to those around them.
My prayer is to be better this year than I was last year. Do more things for others….Do more than I did last year.
I believe my emptiness has already been filled as I read the prayers and comments of the other women. I see the fullness of my life, the blessings I walk in and the wholeness my future holds. Sometimes it just takes the knowledge that others have similar thoughts and feelings to know you are not alone. I am grateful the Lord led me to this blog and look forward to continued peace and encouragement through the wisdom expressed .
That my nephew will look forward to a future after H.S. not consumed with the past and come to really know & look to Jesus & believe He cares. Thank you for this word this A.M. was really feelg empty
Now that our boys are grown and are more or less out of the house I am looking for new direction on how to live this next stage of my life with purpose.
I have two specifics I pray for nightly: 1) I always pray for my girls (ages 13 and 17). My oldest is dating a boy that isn’t a favorite choice with her father and I.. I pray for my girls to make good choices. 2). I pray for my sister and her marriage and family nightly.. They have a lot of trouble in their marriage and she tries to stick it out..
I want to have faith the size of as mustard seed so I can see God do wonderful things.
My husband and I are praying, fasting and believing for God to heal our marriage.
I pray for progress in tackling some financial problems. I also pray for growth in my faith and discovering my purpose and I really want to serve others more, so that my light and joy may show and be beneficial and encouraging to others.
I pray for spiritual and emotional healing. To be in his word more and give him the control of my life back
I would love for the pain that I have struggled with all of 2015 to either have an answer found, be healed, or that God helps me accept that it is part of my story and His way for me to minister to those around me. I believe that all of our life circumstances are part of our story that help mold us into God’s Masterpieces, so that we may shine His light to a world that so badly needs to see it.
The prayer that I would like to see answered this new year is for God to move in such a way in my life that it only leaves me the decision to follow his direction. This past year or better yet, 2 years have been so full of ups and downs, disappointments and changes. I have stepped through one door that I thought was God’s direction for me to only find that it was not. I pray God will reveal his purpose and plan for my life. Help me to be more generous and more aware of his presence in my life, so that I can help someone else and for him to simply help me to rely on him for every emotional, mental, physical, spiritual and financial need in my life.
My prayer for this year is that each member of my family will find peace.
I lost my husband of 44’years in October of 2015. His death has left such a hollow place in my heart. Also we were in the process of selling our business that we started in 1974. So I no longer have him and our business will soon be in the hands of another owner. Two huges changes in my life. I feel quite empty but after reading today’s story, I have hope that God will start a new page in my empty book. Thank you for your encouraging words.
I pray that the depression I have felt for the past five years, due to my husband’s injury (he is a quadriplegic) would go away. I need to do some work first called praying and reaching out to Jesus in prayer to accept this, but who wants to accept something like that?
So I am empty right now and need to be filled with acceptance and love for my husband as he is now and thankful he is still with me and the kids.
My life has been turned upside down and then flipped and all around this past year, I bit difficult to put it mildly, but I continue to lok to my Abba for answers, for guidance and after reading the Bible, Prov31, theLoop and now your blog He has told me that I am ripe for Him to start a new chapter in my story. My prayers is for Him to fill my heart with a longing for His perfect will and a strong desire to do it with every ounce of my being. I am empty and ready to be filled up, to be turned into the best wine ever made! Thank you Alicia for sharing 🙂
The prayer that I would most love to see answered in this New Year is my daughter’s salvation. Not only hers, but her friends and many of our children at church. To know that they have committed their hearts & lives to serving Christ & that they have secured an eternal home in Heaven would make 2016 one of the best years ever!
My prayer is for healing for my husband.
My prayer for the New Year is that my children continue to grow in the knowledge of the Lord and that my husband finds balance, peace and joy in every new day. Also that our home would be filled with God’s unconditional love.
Hmmm……one prayer you ask?!? Well, it would have to be to obtain an inner peace that only our Heavenly Father can provide. I need to remember that He is the only Hope and provider of that Peace. The world and all and everyone in it pulls us in so many directions and tries to distract us by making us empty promises of inner peace and hope. By keeping a hold of my Father’s “hand” in my daily walk is certainty of developing that peace……
My prayer for this year has now changed since reading your devotional for today. Thank you.
My prayer is that our family will be filled as we are entering the year feeling so empty. Even Christmas this year felt different as we have been so drained. Thank you for helping me see our “emptiness ” as an “expectancy ” to be filled. What a wonderful change in perspective!
It it so comforting that God can fill an empty vessel and that he wants me filled up so I can love Him and Serve Him. Praying for the emptiness to be filled with the Holy Splirit and His love.
For God to bring financial freedom, stability and hope to our family this year. We are so ready. 🙂
I need God to pour into my life so that I can be filled to pour into others. I know God wants me to minister to women and that is what I am praying for the New Year…that He will guide me toward the women that need encouragement. I have been in a struggle for so long with job loss for my husband and we still have an uncertain future but God has been with us. I want to grow with God and be filled by Him.
In the New Year I would love to see God build this broken girl up and to show me who I am along with showing glimmers of who He is!
I haven’t thought much about the new year and what I hope for it. Too exhausted and overwhelmed from 2015. January 1st was just another day….here we go again, let’s just get through it, keeping my eyes on Jesus and holding on tight to the hope I have in him. Things have got to get better. Life has got to change. How is God going to use this mess of a life?
I would love to get treatment for my Lymphedema/Lipedema so I can walk again, so I can feel alive.
I pray that the Lord will help my children and me on this journey now that my husband, their father, is with Him up in heaven.
So many emotions from this sudden death have emerged. I know that prayer is the answer.
I pray for the newest members of our family, my grand niece and 2 grand nephews.
My prayer this year is that I wouldn’t miss a second of it. In three days our 4th grandchild will be one year old, Lord willing. A little blessing that wasn’t supposed to be here. She has Trisomy 18 and we were told that she would die before birth, if she made it till then. And they added, if she does live, 90% of children with Trisomy 18 die within the first few months. But no one told Olivia. My prayer is that I can continue to clench anxious muscles to just enjoy the moments we have with anticipation. That I will not allow fear to paralyze me and stunt what God wants to do. In me, in her, in our family, or those who are watching her story unfold. My prayer is that I can bathe in the joy God has for me, instead of being afraid to dip my toes in.
My prayer for 2016 is that my husband would come to know Christ. I’m eager to submit our lives to God’s will as a couple. Thank you for your support and encouragement!
O Holy God, grant Alicia wisdom for just the one to receive the journal and may each one who reads her story today realize the gift they have already received to find empty pages to be filled with You this year. Thank You for yet another year to know more of You.
Thank you for this devotion this morning. My prayer: let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.
The prayer I would most love to see answered this year, is that my mother ask Jesus into her life. You see my mother has stage 4 ovarian cancer and is presently at the 4 and a half year of it recurring again. My biggest e is that she won’t ask Jesus into her life before she dies. My brother tried to talk to her about Jesus and she warmed up to him a little bit, but then my brother who was born with cerebral palsy got diagnosed with stage 4 melonma with metts to the brain. My brother lived for 3 years after that and never once stopped witnessing to her, after he died she just doesn’t seem to want to hear about Jesus. Mom is really sick, the cancer is spreading after this year and the chemo is not working as well. So, my prayer is that she is saved before the Lord calls her home. I just want to be sure that heaven is where she goes.
I pray for my cousins healing and for God to fill my life with his word so that I msy use it to guide others to him. Amen
I pray that God gives me the wisdom and the words to tell my story, in hopes of helping someone else get through the struggles of hopelessness and despair. At one point in my life, I gave up. Through the grace of God, I’m still here for a reason. I have a purpose and I’m praying that God opens my heart and mind to understand my purpose and use it to glorify Him and to help others see the light.
My prayer this year is to have Joy, share and spread Joy in all that I do.
I definitely want to find God’s plan for my life and to grow so much closer to him; however, I also would like to see my son and his wife come back to the Lord. I was just told on New Year’s Day, that I am going to be a grandma. I was so elated but it was also a bittersweet moment. They live so far away, so I won’t get to be active in this precious child’s life. I might get to see them once or twice a year and that’s not the kind of grandparent I wanted to be, but more importantly, I want my grandchild to grow up knowing the Lord. I pray and ask each of my sisters to help me pray, that when this child is born, things will have turned around and my children will be actively serving and living for the Lord.
My prayer is that God fill this empty vessel.
I pray that God will show me his plan for me. I pray for discernment to recognize when I see it. I want to move forward this year and get my life in order after the struggles I’ve endured the past two years . I want to start journaling as I read Gods word on a daily basis this year. Thsnk you fit your encouragement today .
I pray that the prodigals I am praying for will turn their hearts back to our Heavenly Father.
I would love to have His guidance on whether I should return to the workforce after being a stay at home mom for 3 years (even if only on a part time basis).
We lost our son in law, the father of 3 young boys in early December. Our lives are forever changed- and so my prayer is for healing- for our family as each of us lost something that terrible Monday. We know God’s plan is not our own- and so we try to continue to move forward for these boys,our daughter and all the family that loved him.
So as I read this on Proverbs 31 ministries, I thought “how did this chic get in my head!!” I have been feeling empty too. Empty as a wife, as a mom, as a friend, as a woman but more so as a follower of Christ. This year my husband stopped going to church. I have watched him drown himself in beer. I have tried to be the woman he needs while juggling 4 kids, a full time job, and return to school. I know now God wants me empty to fill me with goodness, love, and to have my faith go Not just ful but overflowing Christ love.
I pray that God will open me up to love and people. That I will stop hiding behind walls for fear of looking less than perfect and instead allow myself to be me. I pray that new relationships will develop and grow in the midst of God’s love and grace. I pray old/current relationships will be made new and refreshed under His healing hand.
For healing and wholeness for my son
I pray that God will wrap his arms around my family as we face changes in the coming months that are crucial to my step-daughters’ well being.
Thank you for this as I too feel empty after a rough year of loss. Thank you Jesus for your faithfulness to see me through . Thank you for reminding me that when we are empty then Jesus can fill us up.
My prayer would be that I would walk closer with my loving, heavenly Father and learn, once again, to hear His voice.
My prayer is that I become closer to God and His word in the new year. That I can get my husband to go to church with me.
I loved this story! I have just recently started my journal back. I don’t always have the words to write but as I’m reading God’s word I can at least write a scripture that stands out in my heart. My husband and I are nearing retirement and this year I come first. So my prayer is that I will allow the Lord to be first in all of my decisions as I go forward this year.
My prayer is for the continued safety and provision for our eight precious grandchildren. I pray for their salvation, when the Holy Spirit first convicts them and that they live their lives knowing that they are precious and that Jesus loves them-( copied from a devotion I read many years ago.)
I begin this year differently than any year before…without my dear mother. While I know she is finally where she belongs, the little girl in me still feels so lost sometimes. She has begun her first new year of forever in Heaven. As tears stream down my cheeks, I miss her because she’s “there” and I’m “here.” Our family was so blessed by her love and guidance. She loved us all and I know she prayed for us faithfully. Our roles had changed in the last years and I often felt that she had become my child. I am so thankful that God honored her with being able to stay in her own home all the days of her life. While she didn’t fully see her prayers come to life in our family, I know she is rejoicing in the miracles she has seen at work since she left us. I pray that I carry on the legacy that she and my grandmother started and that I can be half the woman of God that they were.
I pray that this New Year will reveal God’s carefully planned handiwork for my and my family’s lives. This past year has been filled with challenging situations. Situations that sometimes brought me to the edge of losing hope. But God’s promises in His Word kept me hanging onto hope. I feel deeply in my soul that this year will be the year of changes. Changes that aren’t something that my husband and I have planned. I wait on Him to guide each day into our new beginnings.
I pray to God for healing of our marriage. I pray to God to soften my husband’s tone &\give him peace in his life so he doesn’t have a bad temper & yell at me. I pray to you Lord in Jesus’s name. Amen
For God to show me his purpose for my life or at least give me hope for when that day comes.
I pray I will be able to serve at my church and also able to attend a small group where I can know more and experience more about Jesus. Before the year ended, my mother in law passed away and my husband got so sick we spent two weeks at the hospital. I lost my job because I have to take care of him. This devotion spoke to my heart. It’s exactly what I am feeling right now-empty. Thank you God for speaking to my heart and giving me hope.
I feel so inadequate for the ministry I have been called to. Teaching volunteers in Childrens ministry. Talk about empty pages! A new story begins.
I pray this year that I will stop taking the pen from God and trying to write my own story when the Author and Finisher of my faith is more than capable to do the writing.