Precious Memories! Beautiful Future! Let Him Lead You...

We’re at Bikes Blues and BBQ this week. We enjoy visiting with everyone who comes by the booths. We have one behind Shotz on Dickson Street and one at the entrance to the vendors at the Tyson Track Center. As we drove up yesterday Danny and I reminisced about how many years we’ve been coming up for this event. We laughed as we remembered the year the clutch went out on that old bike just as we were climbing a big hill. We talked about the folks we’ve met along the way. It’s good to reminisce about good times in our lives, whether it’s ministry or family or friends.


But it’s a new day. If we only think about yesterday, we aren’t able to move on. Just like we update our bikes, we pray for new vision and a fresh anointing for today. Maybe you’ve been doing things the old way and expect new results. It just doesn’t happen. Reminiscing is not the same as living in the past. Moving on is just part of life. But if we move on expecting God to be in the lead, we’ll have new memories and blessed times in His presence.

Oh beloved, your memories are certainly precious. Keep them. Memories of loved ones gone can warm our hearts. Share those memories with family as those stories can be carried down through the generations. Are you hanging on to the past as though it’s all you have? Whether past struggles or past joys, they’ll keep us focused so on our past that we can’t move on. Run to the Lord this morning and ask Him for fresh anointing and vision. Ask Him to take you further than you’ve been with Him first. Then, as you and He walk together, He will give you new insight and wonderful plans to carry you into the future. He says to you that your future is secure in Him and that He wants to give you greater blessings than you’ve ever known! Hallelujah! What a Savior – the One Who saves us by His grace, anoints us for this present time and fits us for Heaven! He loves you and He’s for you and that’s all that matters.

Psalm 23:5 …You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.

Ecclesiastes 11:7 Light is sweet; how pleasant to see a new day dawning.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Do You Need a Fresh Start? You can have One!

It’s the first day of school and many households are re-learning getting up and getting going. Summer break is over and children are putting on new clothes, new shoes and donning backpacks. Some are riding the bus and others are being carried in the family car.  Old friends will be hugged and new friends will be made. Some students will cry, some mothers will cry.  The cafeterias will be baking and the playground equipment will be full. It’s a fresh start kind of morning.

Oh beloved, do you need a fresh start? Is it time for a change? In your attitude, in your demeanor, in your outlook? Today, like school children all across America, you can have that change. You can put on a new look and walk a different walk. I know things have been bad for a long time. Maybe someone’s tried to help point the way for you but you’ve rejected all help. You may be angry, tired, frustrated, hopeless, dejected, miserable.  There is One Who will pick you up and take you where you’ve never been. It’s never too late to let God teach you in His School. Run to Him this morning and open His Study Guide. It’s more than a book – it’s God Breathed! God’s Word is True and it’s written just for you. Because He loves you He can take all your misery, all your mistakes, all your futility and restore your faith, your joy and your hope. Try Him today! He loves you and He’s for you and that’s all that matters.

 Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.

Jeremiah 17:14  O LORD, if you heal me, I will be truly healed; if you save me, I will be truly saved. My praises are for you alone!

Psalm 6:2  Have compassion on me, LORD, for I am weak. Heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.

Lamentations 3:22-23 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.