Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to all of you.  I ask for the Lord to bless you and be with you this upcoming year.  Whatever trials you face, may you feel our Savior's hand in yours as you walk through them.  And in the victories and blessings, rejoice in His Presence.  And in all things, remember that you are loved and cared for by a heavenly Father whose heart is kind and wisdom is unending.  

Every year a lot of us set resolutions.  Weight loss, exercise, be a better person....I do it too.  But my  biggest thrill is listening for the Lord's plan for my "improvement" during the next year.  I just read a statement that said something like, January 1st is the first page of a new 365 page book.  I like the thought of that.  I want to walk with the Lord and let His story unfold day by day in my new book!  When I write each page I want it to be a testament to His grace, care and love.  

So onward to God's plan for my year.  My year end God visit!  One of my biggest struggles is and has always been unbelief.  If things aren't going perfectly...I get frustrated and mistrusting.  And as I've chronicled here, complaining is another issue.  Well the Lord gave me a statement for this new book of 2019.  "Trust brings peace and gratitude brings joy."   And that's God's word for me this year (along with Hebrews chapters 3 and 4).   And that's where he wants me going this year.  Lose the unbelief, lose the complaining.  And I want the transformation that comes for doing those things.  I'm so excited!  

You know what's great too, is that perfection isn't a goal, but going forward is.  I know that even if I don't get it right all the time, or if I need to make the same goals again next year, as long as I keep working at it, with the Holy Spirit's help I'll reach the place He wants me to be.  With our Father, the progress isn't in perfect behavior, but in a heart that is eager to follow Him.  

Thank You Lord for Your leading and for the brand new book we will write this year.  I don't know what the next ten minutes will hold, let alone the entire year, but You do and You have only good in mind, not just good, but the best, even if that best comes out of hardship.  Increase all our trust, faith and gratitude this year.  Help us all to let You be God and rest in the fact that You are.  In Jesus' most trustworthy Name.  Amen.

Get with the Lord, and set your goals for this new year.  

Hebrews chapters 3 and 4

And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest. 2 For he was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses served faithfully when he was entrusted with God’s entire house.
3 But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself. 4 For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God.
5 Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. 6 But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.
7 That is why the Holy Spirit says,

“Today when you hear his voice,
8     don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled,
    when they tested me in the wilderness.
9 There your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
    even though they saw my miracles for forty years.
10 So I was angry with them, and I said,
‘Their hearts always turn away from me.
    They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11 So in my anger I took an oath:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. 15 Remember what it says:

“Today when you hear his voice,
    don’t harden your hearts
    as Israel did when they rebelled.”

16 And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? 18 And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? 19 So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.

4 God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.3 For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said,

“In my anger I took an oath:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’”

even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. 4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.”  5 But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”
6 So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:

“Today when you hear his voice,
    don’t harden your hearts.”

8 Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. 9 So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.