CHANGES TO COME

A new year is here and with it usually come resolutions which hopefully will produce changes in life habits. The number one thing people go after is their weight and to start exercising or to pick up the pace a bit. Everything always sounds so good on paper but by the time February rolls in the resolutions made the first of January have been lost in the shuffle of life. We get back into the old habits of living and stay there without another thought to all of the changes we had in mind. So unless we are diligent they end up being words on paper with no meaning at all.

But God has put His Words on paper so that we can read them, enjoy them, use them and allow them to change our lives. His Words are never just words on paper although we treat them that way when we don't take them to heart and act on what we read. It takes obedience pure and simple. The obedience takes commitment and perseverance. His Words are not words that are to be forgotten by the end of the month. His Words are to be remembered and lived out.

So the resolution for this year is PAY ATTENTION TO GOD AND HIS WORDS. Let's keep it that simple. In order to do that you do have to read the Bible. In order to do that you do need to believe what you read. In order to do that you do need to trust the Holy Spirit to guide you. In order to do that it needs to be about God and not about you.

I'm on board. How about you? Let's not consider 2012 as being the end of the world! Let's consider 2012 our opportunity to look more like Jesus in all we say and do!

A Prayer of Joy for the New Year

Here we are 3 days into 2009. Whoa!!! I remember when I was a child always looking forward to 10 years of age, then it was 16, then it was 18, then 20 and then it all stopped. The looking forward to the next year, the next age was not something I really had time for. They just kept coming until now I am in the 21st century. Now that's weird!

What is so weird about it? I was born in 1952 if that tells you anything. I could make sense of black and white T.V. and now they tell me we are going digital. What??? So many changes. I used to think that my grandma had seen a lot of changes going from horse and buggy to cars, from radio to T.V. but now I realize I AM GRANDMA!! I have seen a lot of changes with many more to come to be sure. Can you believe it? I'm that grandma writing a blog. :) Now that makes me laugh.

There is one who is constant and has never changed from one century to the next. Who? My Savior, Jesus Christ. He has entered this new year with me. He has promised me He will never leave me or forsake me. He has given me His Spirit and His Word. He has sacrificed Himself for me. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. This means a lot to me as I see so many changes each and every day. I know I can count on Jesus no matter what changes.

What has Jesus promised me for this year? He has promised me if I seek to live my life His Way then I can have joy. He does not promise me happiness for there will be many things in this coming year which will bring me great sadness and pain. He does promise to be with me through the difficulties to come and to provide me with comfort and peace. His comfort and peace bring me joy in Him, not in my circumstances.

My prayer for you this year is joy. So I say to you Have a JOYFUL New Year as you trust in the ONLY Savior, Jesus Christ.