How's your "new year" going?

Mine's going well....the message at church yesterday was full of food for thought...and action.  We're studying 1 John right now.  Yesterday we were in chapter 2.  I really love this verse.

 "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.  I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it,

 and that no lie is of the truth."  1 John 2:20-21

No lie comes from the truth.

There are so many different things going on in the world today...in my world. Sometimes decisions we have to make seem a little gray.  But there's no possible harmony between a lie and the truth.  Things are black (sin) or white (truth)...there are no gray areas.

As a Christian I know the truth...it's in the Word of God, it's revealed to me by the

 Holy Spirit...it's from Jesus Christ Himself.

I'd like to spend 2015 focusing on the truth, standing up to the lies, reacting the way

 God wants me to react in various situations.

I want to rely on His life within me.

I "have an anointing from the Holy One".

I want to use it.

 

Christmas is a Promise

Bill and I buy the "littles" Christmas sleepwear each year...we give them the pjs and nightgowns on Thanksgiving so they have plenty of pre-Christmas time to wear them.  It's also a good day to try and get a photo of them all together...looking festive! 

It's a good thing that I'm not really attached to formal, posed photos. That seldom turns out well around here....click HERE to see what I mean!  

They were all tired, the light was all wrong, and, as usual, I had too many helpers (all over the room) saying "Here, look here!"

But I love these photos....I love the promise they hold.  My family's future. The promise of things to come!  

The three biggest "littles" are already sensing what's to come later this month.  They've thought about their Christmas wishes and wants...a lot!  Their warm, cozy, red & green outfits remind them...'tis the season!

They also understand the "real reason for the season"....I so look forward to the day 

that they really understand just how wonderful the promise of Christmas is!  

The promise...the certain Hope...of Him to come!

"Christmas Encouragement" Summary Sentence, Day 3:

"Christmas is a promise!"

Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,

Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh...Romans 1:2-3

Prayers Answered

Sometimes God gives us difficult things to understand.

We pray and pray and pray, and it seems like He doesn't answer.  

Or it seems like the answer is wrong.  

But He always answers, and He's never wrong.

Sometimes it's just a different answer than what we hoped for.

 

I received some sad news yesterday morning.  Kind of surprising and yet, not totally unexpected news.  But really sad, definitely unwanted, news.  I've had some time to digest it, and time to remember that God's plan for His people, for His church if you will, is good, and when we entrust that to Him we can experience peace, and even happiness, in the situation.  Prayers will continue, some the same and some different. 

 God will continue to hear them...and to answer them. 

In His way and in His time. 

 

 

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord,

thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11