This is my first post of the New Year, so first let me extend a wonderful and blessed “Happy New Year” to each of you. It’s been a while since I last posted, and I have missed you all. Of course, a lot has happened since then, including the fact that I got married to Tracy Neal Crayton. Today, I am officially, Min. DiOnetta Jones Crayton.
I have shared this before, but I will say it again. I usually get excited about the New Year, because for me, a New Year always means New Beginnings. I don’t glamorize it, but I welcome each New Year with hope, enthusiasm, and optimism. And to me, that’s a biblical perspective for we only have to look at Lamentations 3:22-23, to find support and validation for this way of thinking. This passage reminds us that, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
I have to admit that 2013 brought me many blessings and many new challenges; and even today as I write this post, I feel burdened. Life is full of disappointments, but I have to trust that God knows my heart and my needs. In Him, all things are well. Jesus said in John 16:33 that, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” In other words, even in the midst of our most difficult times, we can and will receive the blessing and favor of the Lord. Read the Lamentations passage again slowly and this time believe it (I say this for me as much as I declare it to you) – “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” God is faithful even when others are not. God is faithful even when we are not faithful to Him.
My goal this year is to be faithful to God. To love has He loves. To give has He gives. To forgive has He does. To love, respect, and submit to my husband as God would have me to do. To share in a ministry with my husband that will bless others and glorify God.
Obviously, this year is very different for me, because I now have a husband that I truly hope to share the rest of my life with. I am so flawed, and I have made many, many mistakes, but I trust and believe that God’s mercies and His great compassion will keep me and my husband. I am so very blessed to have Tracy in my life. My prayer is that we will work through whatever we may face – together – and that the rest of our lives will be blessed and fruitful.
Take some time this week to meditate on this devotion and recognize that each new day (not just the New Year) brings new mercies. New Mercies give each of us a chance to make amends for past wrongs and to do that which honors those we love and the God we serve. This is my heart’s desire and prayer. Amen.
Beloved, I love you with the Love of God today and everyday…
Peace and blessings,
Min. DiOnetta Jones Crayton
Minister DiOnetta Jones Crayton's Monthly Devotions 