A time to weep and a time to laugh.

"There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
    a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace."

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

This verse in Ecclesiastes is a great one to study whilst looking back on the past year. I know, without a shadow of a doubt that around the world throughout 2013, each of these "times" have been experienced. 

People have been born, and people have died, people have planted and people have uprooted, people have killed and people have healed.... you get my drift. 

2013 has brought a lot of tears, but a lot more laughs. It has been a time of breaking and a time of healing, there have been many times that I can quite happily wave goodbye to, and I can say with all my heart that I couldn't have made it through them without my heavenly Father. 

But its not the negatives I want to focus on here, for they have been lifted from me, its the positives; the blessings and the treasures I have received and encountered. 

It is so easy to get to the end of a year and brush it off by saying 'so long 2013' and 'heres to a great 2014'... and I bet this time next year people will be saying the same thing again. We are so quick to remember the bad aspects of the year, so easily influenced by the enemy, who is constantly whispering heartache into our fragile souls. This New year, I dare you to say no to the enemy and let Jesus whisper admiration and healing into your soul, let Him sing over you the blessings and treasures He has released upon you throughout the year. 

This time just yesterday the enemy was winning my thoughts. He was affecting my mood without me even realising it. I was hit with feelings of sadness and regret, feelings of loss and heartache, feelings of hatred.. I was wishing the year away, wishing it to disappear. And you are going to laugh at what changed this around... but heres the story:

I was just checking my bank statement (as a poor student likes to do in hope that by some miracle the figures have changed), and I saw that I had been charged £49 from Amazon for something I never bought. I went onto their website and started up the live chat. I spoke to a lady who sorted it immediately, and then said 5 words that hit me like a tidal wave: "Have a blessed day, Harriet". 

And that was it... BAM... Goodbye Satan, Jesus is here! He wasn't going to let me forget about all the amazing stuff that has happened for me in 2013, and there's certainly no way He was going to let the enemy steal it away. 

I challenge you to remember the positives, remember the seasons God has taken you through this year and how you have come out of those having learnt valuable lessons or grown closer to the creator of the universe. I challenge you to give them back to God in praise as we welcome in the new year with new eyes to see, ears to hear and voices to rejoice. Open your hearts to him and let him invade your spirit and soul with incomparable love until you're overflowing.

Go on, I dare you.

Have a blessed New year.