Are You Headed for the Wedding?

We are up and getting ready to pick up the granddaughter and head to a wedding. A couple of our friends are tying the knot today at the end of an annual biker’s new year ride. We are excited to witness the festive occasion. They have been blessed to find one another when they really weren’t even looking. That’s how God does things. We don’t always know exactly what we want or need, but He provides anyway. In fact it’s pretty wonderful how He surprises us with His love and care and His mercy and grace. All wrapped up in the Savior, we are united with Him.

We as believers are headed to a wedding as well. It’s going to be wonderful! We know the wedding is going to happen, but we don’t know exactly when. In the meantime our Betrothed is preparing everything for us. Nothing will be left undone. Nothing will be out of place. We will be completely fulfilled in Him. He too found us when we didn’t even know what we needed. While we don’t know what all it means to be with Christ in heaven forever, we do know that when it happens it will be perfect.

Life is a lot like a wedding. We prepare as best we can for it, but life’s greatest gifts can’t be worked up or paid for. Those special things like true love, best friends, church families and our beloved human kinfolks are all so wonderful. But in spite of all those wonderful relationships, we know we are still waiting for the ultimate moment of togetherness when God swoops us up like a Bridegroom and takes us away forever to our home of homes.

We are celebrating a new year today. This may be the very year He returns for us. That would be fine with me. I don’t know everything about Him yet, but I know that when I see Him face to face I’ll never be disappointed. Life here is rough sometimes. Rejection, panic attacks, health issues, family problems, job loss and more. We find ourselves less than we want to be. We also tend to define ourselves by the worst of moments.

Yet Christ sees us as we will be. He sees us through rose colored glasses – for we are covered by the Blood of the Lamb. We are able to remain faithful while waiting for Him to come get us for we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. We also have the mind of Christ so that we know what to do, how to live and what the Word says with clarity. If we were the only one He would have made all these provisions for us. If all we had was the Word of God it would be enough for His Word says “in the beginning was the Word…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Oh beloved! My prayer for you this New Year’s Day and for the entire year of 2014 is that you would learn to abide in the Lord always. Along with that I pray that you realize the awesome wonder of living a life in Christ. That you would seek His heart to be more like Him. That you know what the hope is of His calling. That you would realize the spiritual aspects of life on earth in a greater way than you’ve ever known. I also pray that as you face your weaknesses you will know that’s where your real strength lies – for He is your strength. When you face moments when you forget how to sing that you will remember He is your song. When you don’t know what to do or where to go, you will fall restfully into His arms in faith. I pray that you will let Him make you what you can’t be on your own and that you will allow Him to pour Himself into you - body, soul and spirit. Let Him make this new year all about Him and hang on as He takes you beyond your wildest dreams!

If you know only one thing about your Bridegroom beloved, I pray that you will know how deep and wide and long His love is for you and that you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is for you always. Happy, spiritually joyful and prosperous New Year to you for you are His beloved indeed.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

2 Thessalonians 3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.

Ephesians 1:17-19 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

The New Year is Full of God's Hope

Nothing left under our tree but some loose dry needles. Since we got a live tree again this year it looks like we’re going to have to dispose of it pretty quickly.  Just a month ago it was green and the needles were supple. Freshly cut from the earth, it was gorgeous. Now it’s about done in. We can’t keep it over for another year. Without roots and soil and water it won’t make it. The evidence is there already. It’s done for.

This year has flown by. Just yesterday 2013 came upon us with such promise. If you’re like us, there were some great things that happened this year.  And if you’re like us, there were some not so great and unexpected things that happened.  When you open up a new year it holds lots of wonderful plans and hopes and dreams. But you can’t carry that calendar over for another year either. Everything written in it is done. That’s the past. It too must be thrown out with the Christmas tree.

We cannot do one thing about bringing a dead tree back to life.  We can’t do a thing about repurposing a calendar for another year. We can’t do anything about the outcome of the months we’ve spent in our lives.  Even though the tree has died, the year has dwindled and our plans have come and gone, not to be seen again, we can keep the good things for future reference. We can also look to the not so good events as our record of overcoming the odds, staying the course and celebrating the victories. We can pack away the ornaments from the boughs to place them on the new tree, we can catalog those good times, those precious moments to fondly remember in our hearts and we can open up a new calendar with high hopes and bright purpose.

I have a bad habit of keeping broken ornaments. I don’t know why. But God speaks to my heart and tells me to throw out the broken. Discard the past. I cannot relive it. I cannot bring it back to life. I cannot revive the year. It’s been spent. Whether I spent it right or misspent any of it is of no concern now.  God says look to the future.  Even the good things - and there are always good memories, great moments and fond reminiscences – have to be put in their place. We cannot live tomorrow fully if we’re holding onto the used up yesterdays. It just can’t be done.

Oh beloved, rejoice! A new year is approaching.  In a few short days it will be 2014 and the calendars will be brought out with clean spaces signifying the clean slate God gives you each and every day. For you who are dealing with loss, God says this could be the year of redemption, regeneration and renewal. For you who are walking through dark hours, this new year holds lots of hope for better days of health and happiness.  For all of you, it is time to throw out the old and take in the new. It’s a new day. It’s a great time to ask God to give you fresh plans and renewed purpose.

Regardless of your age, your abilities, your education or your pocketbook, God wants you.  He wants to take you into newness of life with Him. He wants you to believe Him. To receive His promises and to live in the light of His Word like never before. It’s a new day God has given you today and it’s a new year ahead to live it with gusto and victory. Your life is full of significance because God loves you and He’s for you!  No man can pronounce you done for. No system can pronounce you obsolete. No religion can say you’re not good enough. Because God says behold I AM doing a new thing with you beloved!

Blessings to you as you seek Him with all your heart for that's where we truly live and move and have our being whether it’s the end of a year or the beginning, He’s with you all the way.

Hebrews 6:18-19 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil…

Acts17:28  For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring. KJV

Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.

I Timothy 4:10 With a view to this we toil and strive, [yes and] suffer reproach, because we have [fixed our] hope on the living God, Who is the Savior (Preserver, Maintainer, Deliverer) of all men, especially of those who believe (trust in, rely on, and adhere to Him). Amplified

Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Walk in His Promises for 2013!

As the old year slipped away, some folks were partying, some were sleeping, others were wishing on falling stars. Whatever 2012 was like, it’s forever in our memories. For the good times, we fondly reminisce and hold those memories dear to our hearts. For the hard times, we remember that every day is a new opportunity to start over and make a better day for ourselves and those we love. New years melt away into the past so quickly, reminding us to make the most of the times for the days truly are short. Danny and I have been holding hands as the ball drops for 4 decades now. We’ve celebrated with friends of our youth, then with our own little ones in our home. Other years we celebrated with a house full of teens or waiting for the car to roll into the driveway. Then there were the years we had a houseful of friends, learning to celebrate again as a couple with an empty nest. Those years gave way to celebrating with grandchildren sometimes and married children other times. Like many of you, we had years that we had to say good-bye to loved ones and other hopes and dreams left in the past.


But with every New Year, there is the wonderful view that even though things might have been hard, God saw us through it all! And there are always the promises of God to greet us. We are a blessed people indeed! We who claim to know Christ can also lay claim to all the promises of God for they are available as the sun comes up each morning and the calendar rolls over each year.

I know this past year may have been hard for you, but God was with you all the way. Maybe you didn’t know that when the hard time came, but as you look back you can see and take a deep breath – you made it! Maybe you want things to go differently this year, but you’re watching the news and you wonder how on earth you’ll make it!

Oh beloved, I’d like to pray for you! I pray that God will pour out His richest blessings on you for 2013! For you, beloved, I pray that you will not only hold onto the promises of God but you will walk with victory in each of them! I pray that you will not look back to the mistakes, the hurts, the broken promises of people or the unmet hopes of your heart, but that you will look ahead, for God is with you! He loves you more than you can imagine and He’s not only walking with you into the future, He is walking ahead of you, making a way where there seems to be no way! Look up to His countenance, look forward to His promises and look inward to His Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, which dwells in you! You are His forever and He will never turn His back on you or say it’s over! All the way to heaven you will live in the promises of your Lord for they are faithful and true no matter what else may come.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. KJV

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. NAS

I Corinthians 2:12 And we have received God's Spirit (not the world's spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

Romans 8:11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

2 Corinthians 1:20 For all of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding "Yes!" And through Christ, our "Amen" (which means "Yes") ascends to God for His glory.

Hebrews 6:16-20 16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound Himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that He would never change His mind. So God has given both His promise and His oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.



Isaiah 43:16, 18-19I AM the LORD, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea. “But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I AM going to do. For I AM about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”