Happy New Year! Trusting that each of you had a blessed Christmas and are looking forward with anticipation to what our Savior and Lord has for you in the year ahead.
I write this the day after celebrating Christmas with my family. So many thoughts raced through my mind as I talked with my Savior this morning reflecting over the Christmas season, the preparations, the gift giving and special times with family and friends. As my sons, their beautiful wives and my 4 precious grandchildren came to spend the day with me, I just felt overwhelmed by the goodness of Jesus, of His love for each of us and for the blessing of family. Honestly, it is still bittersweet as we gather to share gifts and share meals around the table without Ty (our husband, father and grandfather). And yet....the amazing thing is that with each passing year as we choose to trust and hope in our God and His promises He gives us not only strength to carry on but also joy and peace as we rest in Him. As I told my family yesterday...Yes, I wish that Ty were still here, but I still can be thankful and find joy in each day because I KNOW that God's plans are always the BEST and that He never makes a mistake. What comfort and HOPE we have knowing that this earth is not our true home, as followers of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and that someday we will all celebrate every moment with our Savior and with Ty forever and forever. There is no gift or treasure on this earth that comes close to comparing to that!!
Yet, it is hard in this life to really believe that with all your heart if you haven't had to suffer and come to a place that you can hardly take another breath or another step on your own. In suffering, you are forced to examine what you say you believe. It's one thing to say: "Yes, I believe in Jesus. I trust Him and believe His promises." But it's another to live those promises when tragedy strikes and life no longer makes sense. It's at those times when those verses that you've known so well all your life become lifelines. As you cling to them they bring hope and strength that is beyond explanation. There have been so many verses/promises that I have clung to and continue to rely on every day. They are all available to each of us as we choose to run into the arms of our Savior by opening the Bible (His love letter to us). If you have been reading my blog, you know that the Bible is my greatest treasure. No other book is alive (Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of the Lord is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword...) and can change our hearts and give us hope like God's Word. Here are just a few of the many promises that have brought encouragement to my heart and I pray will encourage you in this new year:
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direst your paths.
Matthew 11:28 Come to Me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, "Never will I leave you or forsake you." So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"
Isaiah 40:31 Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles.
I Peter 4:13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you many be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. Vs. 19 So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
I John 4:15,16 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God. God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
Psalm 73:23,24 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
Psalm 37:23 If the Lord delights in a man's way, He makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 25:4,5 Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are my God my savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
Psalm 34:15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry.
Psalm 29:11 The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.
Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.
It's really hard for me to stop sharing His words of hope. As the last verse states: He is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. I can testify to that. He continues to amaze me more each day with His love and faithfulness. I am so very thankful for Him and for my dear family and multitude of friends this new year. I am blessed beyond measure with many material gifts but more importantly with a growing love and contentment in my Savior each day. I want to encourage each of you in this new year with this promise - that God will be faithful to you too, no matter what you are going through, as you choose to TRUST and BELIEVE His precious promises.
We are all on a journey each day. Hopefully that journey is leading you closer and closer to Jesus. Choose to take that step out in faith more often this year--to get out of your comfort zone and obey when He asks you to do something that you can't do in your own strength. It's hard--I know...but every time I take that step my faith grows because my Lord never fails to show up and do exceedingly, abundantly beyond what I could imagine! This paragraph from the "Jesus Calling" devotional, spoken as if Jesus is talking, sums it up well:
I care as much about your tiny trust-steps through daily life as about your dramatic leaps of faith. You may think that no one notices, but the One who is always beside you sees everything--and rejoices. Consistently trusting in Me is vital to flourishing in My Presence.
As I finish up my year-long clothing fast this month, I will be sharing all the Lord has taught me through that in my next blog. Hopefully, I will also be sharing about my new grandson who is due on January 24!! So fun!
The song I'm sharing is an older one by Phillips, Craig and Dean called "I Am A Friend of God." Praying that in this new year your friendship with our Heavenly Father will flourish as you seek to love Him more and know Him better each day. He truly is the best friend you will ever have!!!
This Christmas season I want to praise Jesus for all that He has done and continues to do in my life. As His follower, every Christmas should be better and more special as the years go by because of being more satisfied and in love with the greatest gift--Jesus! When you already have the best gift, you can appreciate all the other gifts and blessings that He gives you so much more.
It's hard for me to express how much I love and cherish my Savior. As I've mentioned before, I know that Jesus wants me to share my heart here, to be vulnerable, to help others see how much they need Jesus not religion, rules and trying harder. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I need to share that I don't have it all together--that I struggle--that I mess up--so that others will know that they're not alone in their struggles and that they have a Savior who loves them unconditionally, who delights in them and promises never to leave them and to help them in those struggles.
Recently, I shared one of my journal entries with some friends to encourage them by reminding them of what Jesus has done for me in those struggles and what He wants to do for all of us. I can relate to Paul so well. In Philippians 1 he talks about wanting Christ to be exalted in his body, whether by life or by death. He says in vs. 21-26:
"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me."
That was my desire: that as I shared from my journal what Jesus had reminded me of, that their joy in Jesus would overflow. One of those friends encouraged me to share that entry here which was an answer to my prayer of "what should I share, Lord? You are teaching me so much!"
So...from my journal entry testifying to the amazing gift we have in Jesus and His Word. All of our journeys are different, but Jesus is enough for all of us and waits patiently for us to REST in Him in everything.
Journal entry of Oct. 22, 2013
From McArthur commentary:
"The key and the only key to a righteous life is keeping the Word of the living God. Jesus told the Scribes/Pharisees that they "invalidated the Word of God for the sake of their tradition" (Matt. 15:6). On the surface it seemed that the traditions made the law harder, but in reality they made it much easier, because observance was entirely external. Keeping the traditions demanded a great deal of effort, but it demanded no heart obedience and no faith in God."
In many ways that's how I lived much of my life. I wanted to do things "right" but my motivation was more from "being the good girl" and "because I should" than of wanting to obey, honor and glorify Jesus because of my love for Him. Again--it was more out of duty than relationship although I didn't see it that way at the time. I didn't hunger and thirst for righteousness and to know Him better nearly as much as I hungered to fit in and be accepted by others and the world. My focus was definitely on this world and being comfortable here than on my true home in heaven. My peace and contentment rested in people, circumstances or events and was not consistent. Such a contrast from now when I have peace, joy and contentment continually regardless of my circumstances or what others people in my life do or say. That has come from choosing to seek and draw near to my Savior in His Word and make Him my #1 priority--a choice that has to be made every day sometimes many times a day as we have so many choices on how to spend the time He has given us. As I have heard others say when their greatest treasure on earth is taken away: "it's not until everything is taken away (for me it was Ty, my greatest earthly treasure) that you realize you have everything you need in Jesus!" He truly is enough. Does that mean that every day is easy--NO--but it means that I never face any moment alone, that He has promised to never leave me or forsake me, that He is the God of all comfort, that His plans for me are perfect, that He is my strength when I'm weak, that as I trust Him He gives me a peace beyond my understanding, that I can choose to REST in His loving arms every minute, that His love for me never changes no matter how much I mess up, that I can enjoy each day one at a time and not worry because He holds my future securely in His hands, because all things will work together for good because I am His child, because He delights in me, because He brings sunshine to my heart even on a cloudy day, because of the security/contentment I have in my relationship with Jesus that I enjoy everything and everyone more, because He is my Rock, my Fortress, my King, my Shepherd, my Savior, my Lord, my Shelter, my Redeemer, my Refuge, my Father, and now my Husband--what more could I ask for? He is enough--more of Him was what I was searching for and needed for much of my life. Now, for the rest of my life here, I want to honor and glorify my best friend and Savior by sharing what He has taught me through His very special love letter--His WORD--the Bible as I have chosen to run to Him over and over and over again in times of extreme loneliness and times when I thought my heart would break because I missed Ty so much. I felt like giving up so many times, but the God of all comfort--my Savior--was forever faithful, and I am forever thankful. Now I just want to help others to understand that they do not need to fear anything because the thing I feared the most happened to me, and I am continually amazed at the faithfulness and love of Jesus and how He has and continues to change my heart and give me a continual joy and peace that is truly way beyond my understanding and of greater worth than ANYTHING this world has to offer! I am blessed and more thankful every day for the TRUE RICHES which can only be found in an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ and from fellowship and encouragement from others who are His children.
I pray for each of you who will read this--that you will find HOPE in Jesus --the greatest gift--this Christmas. As you celebrate His birth, I pray that you will hunger for more of Him during this busy time and take time to be still, to open His Word, to share your heart with Him and to get to know Him better. Time spent with Him is never wasted time and will help you notice and cherish all the blessings that He gives you each day. Every day is a very special gift when you walk hand in hand with Jesus!!
The song that I'm sharing with you this month was one we sang in church last Sunday called "Lord, I Need You" I need Him desperately every minute of every day. I love the line in the song that says: "And where You are, Lord, I am free" as well as "without You I fall apart, You're the One that guides my heart."
Have a blessed Christmas with Jesus, family and friends!
