January 5

My husband Richard and I have moved into a community where some of the neighbors are of an older generation. We were coming home from lunch when the lawn maintenance guy came running from the neighbor's backyard telling us that there was a man on the ground shaking. Richard jumped into gear to help him while I prayed. He couldn’t say anything, but we thought he may have fallen the night before while trying to cover his plants. The paramedics said they thought he would be okay. One neighbor, who is a believer, had thought about taking him soup the night before, but thought he wouldn’t open the door. The other neighbor, also a believer, was going to check on him that morning, but things got crazy around her house. We need to start listening more carefully to the Holy Spirit and follow through! We are all guilty of ignoring Him, but this shows you why we shouldn’t!

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Hebrews 13:16

January 4

I want a life with no problems. I think that’s why I love getting away to the beach. The waves seem to wash away all the stress and anxiety that builds up from general everyday life. It’s a new year, a fresh start for some, but all it means to me is that it’s time to wrap up last years business and get our paperwork ready to have our taxes prepared. Not only that, but I still haven’t finished everything I need to get accomplished this week! As I’m writing this, God is speaking to me telling me that I don’t have to do this life in my own strength. He’s encouraging me to let Him be my strength when all I want to do is run away. If our life was easy, we probably wouldn’t be on earth and would be resting to the sound of angels singing. Let me encourage you to keep pushing through your stress, pain, or anything else that is bringing you down. God will be your strength! When we are weak, then He is strong.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

January 3

My prayer today is for God to give me some “want to.” There are a lot of things that I desire to accomplish, but I don’t “want to.” Today I feel like Jonah, I don’t want to go to Nineveh! We are living in a country like Nineveh where our peoples minds are so bent towards evil that it seems like all hope is lost. Do we even want these people to repent? Or, do we want them to suffer the consequences? Then I remember that God loves all of us and wants none of us to perish. His desire is for all to repent and come to Him. The grace of God is hard to understand, but it’s not for us to understand. Our job is to do our best to bring others into the loving arms of our Savior. We are to go to those overtaken by evil and tell them about Jesus. Whether they reject Him or accept Him, we will have done our part for the Kingdom and we will be credited as doing good. 

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. Jonah 3:10

January 2

This year is already starting out a little rocky. It’s cold, we have a couple of issues with our tenants, and it’s the first of the month! We are in the real estate business and our main job is property management. Our income is from rentals and sometimes people neglect to pay their rent. We see it a lot this time of year because people spend more than they have on the holidays. We are understanding, but often people take advantage of our kindness. Do you pay your rent? God has given you a place to stay, feeds you, provides air for you to breathe, and puts the clothes on your back. Are you going to continue to neglect to return a small portion to help support your local church? God is your landlord and property manager, you owe him rent! He will multiply what you give Him if you will put your trust in Him. He challenges us to test Him in this. Go ahead, try it and see what happens!

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, 'How have we robbed you?' In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. Malachi 3:8-10

January 1

Happy New Year! What a great year this is going to be! I’m happy to be alive, happy to be chosen, happy to walk through God’s will for me, and be pleasing to Him! The great thing about what I’ve listed is, I don’t have to do anything to accomplish them except trust in Jesus! It’s nice to focus on them because you can see His hand orchestrating the outcome, but you’re not the one in charge. We have a fresh new year to focus on the positive things, don’t waste it fretting over the things you have no control over. Today is a good day to thank Him and praise Him for what you do have and maybe that will change your attitude and give you hope for this new year. He’s just like our natural parents, who long to hear from us, waiting for our call. Make sure you call your Father today, He’s just waiting to reveal His plans for your future. He’s listening!

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13

December 31

New year, new you! It may be a commercial on television, nevertheless I hear this saying all the time. You can change your appearance, take off a few pounds, eat healthier foods, and drop bad habits that you’ve picked up over the years, but if you don’t turn your heart towards Jesus, you’ve accomplished nothing! Besides that, I’m not even sure how you do those things without His help. Anything that I’ve set my mind to doing, I ask for God’s help and then dedicate it to Him. My thought is that I will feel obligated to do it for Him and won’t give up so easily. If you’re making resolutions for the new year, resolve to be kind to others, be compassionate toward those who are lashing out, because deep in their soul is unresolved pain and they need Jesus! This may be why He told us to turn the other cheek. Pray about your resolution, and resolve to be a better human.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14