{"id":422,"date":"2014-01-01T16:15:02","date_gmt":"2014-01-01T16:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=422"},"modified":"2014-01-01T16:15:02","modified_gmt":"2014-01-01T16:15:02","slug":"happy-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/happy-new-year.html","title":{"rendered":"Happy New Year!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>2014 is here!<\/p>\n<p>I trust you ushered it in with grace and peace welcomed you.<\/p>\n<p>In the South it is traditional to have black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Years Day. The black-eyed peas represent coin money; the collard greens represent green money. So&#8230;if you have those on New Years you will have them during the year! Makes for a good story &#8211; I have no idea if it is true but, since I like both black-eyed peas and collard greens I have a pot of both on the stove! Hedging my bets!!<\/p>\n<p>Did you make a resolution? Or two. Everyone seems to \u00a0make a couple. After the holidays in any group of folks you might be asked, &#8220;What is your New Year&#8217;s resolution?&#8221; It is assumed. We make them but too soon are defeated. I don&#8217;t make them&#8230; I make commitments.<\/p>\n<p>Last year I commited to read through the Bible in a year with a group of folks from my church. It was a challenging task &#8211; especailly since I was on the road so much. But I did it!! I heartily recommend you do it. \u00a0Get a Daily Walk Bible in the New Living Translation. It makes it so much easier to read. But even so some of it was tough going. Like Leviticus! And then we rushed through the Gospels and Epistles. I want to go back more slowly this year; dig deeper.<\/p>\n<p>This year I want to memorize more scripture. As I get older, I find memory work so much harder to do. I can recall the scripture I memorized when I was younger far easier than that which I do now. And I was bad about learning the &#8220;addresses&#8221; &#8211; I may know the verse but not exactly where it is found. I feel that that makes me illiterate! I bought the Topical Memory System which is the Navigator&#8217;s scripture memory course. They are the leaders in scripture memory so hopefully I will find that \u00a0helpful as a launch out more intentionaly.<\/p>\n<p>It is a discipline&#8230;I must cultivate. For my spiritual growth but also to exercise my brain. So that is my commitment for 2014&#8230;Not a resolution.<\/p>\n<p>What is yours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2014 is here! I trust you ushered it in with grace and peace welcomed you. In the South it is traditional to have black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Years Day. The black-eyed peas represent coin money; the collard greens represent green money. So&#8230;if you have those on New Years you will have them&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,25,16,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holidays","category-new-years","category-personal-thoughts","category-resolutions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Happy New Year! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/happy-new-year.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happy New Year! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"2014 is here! I trust you ushered it in with grace and peace welcomed you. In the South it is traditional to have black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Years Day. The black-eyed peas represent coin money; the collard greens represent green money. So&#8230;if you have those on New Years you will have them&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/happy-new-year.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-01T16:15:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Happy New Year! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2014\/01\/happy-new-year.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Happy New Year! - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","og_description":"2014 is here! I trust you ushered it in with grace and peace welcomed you. In the South it is traditional to have black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Years Day. The black-eyed peas represent coin money; the collard greens represent green money. 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No stranger to heartache, she seeks to provide a Biblical perspective to her journey of faith. She is warm and talks openly about her own need for a safe place as she journeyed through her husband\u2019s infidelities, her subsequent depression, her divorces, her teenage daughter\u2019s two unplanned pregnancies, another daughter\u2019s bulimia, her son\u2019s battle with drugs, grandson's special needs and returning to school at age 40. Although born into the \"famous\" Graham family Ruth did not feel she had a safe place to unburden the secrets of her life. She felt she had to project and image and wear a mask that she \"had it all together\". She had to meet others' expectations of her. It was not until a mid-life crisis did that she fully discover the unconditional love and grace of God. Her life's passion is to connect people to that same grace and love she found, no matter who they are or what sin. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and Bible teacher. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television shows including: Good Morning, America, The Hour of Power, Focus on the Family, Moody Broadcasting, Fox &amp; Friends, CBN, Life Today and CNN. She has worked in publishing for over 14 years and is the founder of the Ruth Graham &amp; Friends Ministry. Ruth has three grown children and nine grandchildren. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. 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