By Brenda Cannon Henley
Here we are on the cusp of the new year of 2023. Some of our readers closed out a good year of 2022, and others a very good year. We must not forget the very difficult road others of our friends and family members were called on to walk, and the challenging year they survived. For my own family, my precious, funny, intelligent granddaughter, Maya Grace Stancil, will always remember 2022. Not only did Maya survive a very long hospitalization in St. Johns All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, but came through, not only surviving, but thriving.

She received her second heart transplant and celebrated an entire year of holidays including her seventh birthday in the hospital. Some days were very long indeed and the nights seemed even longer for each of us who love her deeply.

My precious granddaughter, Maya Grace Stancil, and I helping the Georgia Bulldawgs to victory cheering with the family. My word for last year is “grateful.”

Our eternal thanks and deep appreciation still go out to our friends and relatives and thousands upon thousands of people that we did not even know who joined us in prayer for Maya. She made so many friends as she made medical history. We are grateful and believe God truly has something great for Maya to accomplish in life.

I cannot imagine bearing a serious burden such as this, or many others that could come our way, without a strong foundation of knowing what we believe and why we believe it. The joy of the Lord must be our strength and we must study, prepare our hearts and minds, and rely on the promises of God taught in the Bible to face life’s challenges and pains. I honestly do not see how folks face hard trials without faith and prayer.

For the arrival of several new years now, I have asked my family, friends, and the members of the Broken Pots Study Group I teach to stop and think of one or two words, or short phrases they choose to help lay the foundation for their own new year. What we think in our hearts, what we keep foremost in our minds, and whether we aim for positive or negative thoughts will greatly determine our course in the coming months.

I am always excited and interested to see and hear what people choose. This year, I am remembering a recent Bible lesson I taught to the Pots on Hagar, the Egyptian slave and handmaiden to Sarah, Abraham’s wife. This story can be found in Genesis 16. Hagar is the first person in the Bible to name God. She cried out in her distress, “You are God, and you see me.” The name she gave to God is “El Roi.”

After reading this Scripture and studying it to teach, I am claiming “God sees me in 2023.” And I would add and He deeply cares for me.

Some of the choices have complex meanings and others are fun. I find value in each of them from joy to prayer, from study, to relax, from compassion to kindness, from work to family first, and so many others. What will become your go to word or phrase for the coming months? If you would like to share your choice with me, please use the email address provided in each column.

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at 409 781 8788, or
[email protected]

[BCH: Jan-3-2023]