The New Year and Seasons of Change

I have a special love for New Year’s.  Throughout my life I have spent the time between Christmas and New Year’s thinking about what was good in the past year, what wasn’t, where I can improve and turning my eyes towards the New Year ahead.  I love New Year’s so much that my beloved husband and I were married on New Year’s Eve!  It’s quite amazing, everywhere we go they are throwing a party for us, LOL!

This New Year finds me with some very substantial changes afoot.  My beloved agent Mark Timm and his wife Angela have made some wonderful changes for their company “Cottage Garden Collections” and have merged with Roman, Inc.  This merger has already done some amazing things for Cottage Garden with much more to come.  However, one of the changes that this merger brought, is that Mark ceased to represent me as my agent so that he can spend 100% of his time working with Cottage Garden.

After five years of working together, playing together (our trip to the Bahamas comes immediately to mind!) and growing deeply as friends and “family” it’s hard to let go and move on.  We’ve gone through thick and thin together.  Fortunately, I still work very heavily with Mark and Angela because of my wonderful connection to Cottage Garden Collections (oh boy are there some really awesome new things in the works there!!!!)  They will continue to be an important part of my life.

So there is a very special NEW in my NEW YEAR and it is my new licensing agency, MHS LIcensing.  I debated for several months which direction I wanted to go.  I have many licensing relationships that are already established and I could have made the step towards representing myself, but I always keep this one thought in mind when making plans for my career.  “Does this decision give me more or less time to paint and create?”  There is no doubt in my mind that I will have the freedom to design and create much more by being represented by as solid and reputable organization as MHS Licensing!

I decided on approaching them after talking to several of my manufacturers.  I asked them who they most liked working with.  Which agency handled things in the most professional manner and had the best artists?  The unanimous feedback I received was in support of MHS Licensing.  I am so enjoying getting to know all three of the agents I will be working with there and am looking forward to a long, fruitful and FUN relationship!

You can take a peak at the beginnings of my portfolio there at: LINK TO ARTIST’S PAGES I am the 7th artist down the page.  We’re feverishly working to get my portfolio up in time for the 2009 show season.

For those of you who are my digital clip art customers, you’ll see lots of things that won’t be available for quite a while yet, so it will be a bit of a tease.  However, you’ll see these designs in lots of other products in the years ahead so I  hope you’ll enjoy the preview.

NEW YEAR’S MESSAGE:  Do you leave 2008 with some painful regrets?  Have there been tough seasons in this past year?  Are there areas that you feel you have failed or where the year has not lived up to your expectations?  I’ve observed that the people in my life that who have the greatest difficulty around this time of year seem to be those that have the most regrets, or those that struggle with shame and/or a fear of failure.  The answer to each of these struggles can be found in the following passage:

SCRIPTURE:  2 Cor 5:17-6:1  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  NIV

COMMENTS:  Many of us are separated from those we love due to unforgiveness, disappointment, hurtful experiences and painful histories.  Some of us have been those that have been the “hurt” parties and others of us have been the ones that failed and perhaps caused the hurts.  To be reconciled to each other and to God can seem to be a huge, if not impossible task to accomplish.  It can also be one of the great longings of the human heart.

The world often feels that God wants to push “sinners” away, He does NOT!!!  He longs to gather us all in and has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him.  His part is done, He is already willing, you don’t have to guess whether or not He will accept you — IT IS ALREADY GUARANTEED THAT HE DOES.  He has reconciled to you — all that waits is if you would be reconciled to Him.

For those of us who seek to be found “In Christ” it is an instantaneous process.  We become new creations in him, all things become new, the old passes away and our sins are forgiven.  The longer, transformation part of the process then begins.  God loves reconciliation.  He reconciles us to Himself, then he begins to reconcile our past and restore the relationships that have failed.  On top of that, he gives US the ministry of reconciliation that we might bring others both to Him and to reconcile with each other. Isn’t this an exciting way to begin a new year?

Can you let go?  Can you let go of past hurts?  Can you let go of your failures?  Can you turn your face upwards to the Father above and ask him to reconcile all the loose ends of your life?  The New Year is a great time to let go of New Year’s Resolutions and instead ask God for New Year’s Transformations.  When HE changes you from the inside out, the changes last longer than a week or two!!!!

PRAYER:  Lord, I’ve approached New Year’s Day often with a long list of things I know need to be changed.  I start out with great intentions and reach the stage of failure by the second or third week.  This year I want my life to be fully reconciled to you and your ways.  Give me the power to truly become a New Creation in Christ.  Give me the ability to be fully reconciled with You and to grow into the ministry of reconciling others to you as well.  Make this New Year my best ever, Lord!  AMEN

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

53 thoughts on “The New Year and Seasons of Change”

  1. I love your blog, I visit from time to time. I love your new fabrics, can’t wait to buy them. Hugs Toni

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