Happy New Year

January 1, 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR, READERS!!  I have been under the weather since Christmas Eve so it was nice to wake up this morning and feel half-way human!  We didn't fall off the fiscal cliff and life moves on...  Time to get set for planning the days ahead.  I always like having something to look forward to, don't you?  This morning I read something cool on Facebook ... take an empty jar and every time something good happens, write it down on a slip of paper and put it in the jar.  Amazing how much good happens if we just look for it and take stock.  Personally, I am starting a gratitude journal which is basically the same thing.

"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."~~Jeremiah 29:11

Hope ... I like that.  What I need to do is get out of retirement mode and back into life.  It's way too easy to sit back and let life happen.  I don't get much done that way.  I get so frustrated when I have bouts of Fibromyalgia and arthritis issues.  Being a bobble-head (cervical spine degeneration) is not so funny!  I am hoping and praying that new surgical techniques are on the horizon for those of us with this malady!!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
~~1 Corinthians 5:17

Yesterday is gone ... 2012 is gone.  God's in the business of making old things new, fresh, and spotless.  Today, is a new beginning filled with new opportunities. 

"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command."
~~Ezekiel 36:25-27

When my son reclaimed his life for Christ a couple years ago, the Lord pointed him to the book of Ezekiel in the Bible.  I think Ezekiel 36:25-27 should be cut out and posted where those making new connections and/or commitments in Christ should be visible day and night.  When we become Christ followers, we are given new clothes, new hearts BUT, like always, it's up to us to put them on.  New hearts come one day at a time.  Nike ads say "Just do it."  Good advice I think.

"No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven."

~~Philippians 3:13-14

I am enjoying reading the Promise Study Edition of the Bible.  I have several Bibles that I go back and forth with ... sometimes I read the same passage in different Bibles at the same time.  Anyway, the first fruits of my day need to be planted in wisdom, encouragement, and serenity THEN I am able to step out into the world...  (Like my new rain boots?  Bible and boots ... perfect for today's climate!!) 

"The unfailing love of the LORD never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!" ~~ Lamentations 3:22-24

There are times that our days are filled with troubles and challenges.  There are times that we've done ALL WE can do ... our energies, thoughts, prayers, and actions are exhausted and we lay awake with thoughts until we can't think any more.  It is then that I turn to Lamentations 3 knowing that whatever happens in life, God has a hand in it.  One things for sure ... HE is my inheritance, my rock, my Savior!!  I enter 2013 resting in knowing that everything (yes, EVERYTHING) is Father-filtered.

I do live in Texas and it's a Texas tradition to eat black-eyed peas and cornbread on New Year's Day.  So...I need to get in to my kitchen and put my apron on...

Always remember that you are loved and prayed for ... YA YOU!!

Miss Dottie

PS  "I believe in the sun when it's not shining, I believe in love even when I feel it not, I believe in God even when he is silent." ~~ Old Irish Saying

PSS  In order to get a fire going, you need some kindling and a match.  What's your kindling and match?  Whatever it is, get your fire going in the new year and make it a blazing success!! ~~ Miss Dottie