2010

Looking back a few years, these slogans are fresh in my mind...

2007 - It's gonna be heaven
2008 - It's gonna be great!
2009 - Everything's gonna be fine!

But 2010.........last night as Darrel and I sat here together and talked, we spoke the words out loud that only if we "go with God" are we going to make it in this new year. Darrel's slogan was, "2010 - The beginning of the end."

Not so upbeat huh? But my dear friend Deb S. said basically the same thing as she was packing to hurry to her father's bedside in NC, with the diagnosis of pneumonia and cancer and a collapsed artery. She also said, this is going to be a difficult year.

And so it is I feel the same way in this, the first day of 2010.

THIS IS GOING TO BE A DIFFICULT YEAR. There is much I am facing on my plate in this new year, as there is with every single one of you. Illnesses, unresolved issues with family/friends, unresolved issues within ourselves that we continue wrestling with, lost family/friends that we are aching over and praying over, children/grandchildren whom we haven't seen or have none or hardly no connections with any longer, diagnosis of terminal diseases, financial problems, insurance problems, problems in our counties/states/government, sin is rampant and people are being hurt everywhere across the globe because of the actions/words that someone else has done or spoken about them. There are the lonely, the poor, the afraid, the hungry everywhere we look. Quite frankly, it is and can be overwhelming.

BUT.....THERE IS A GOD WHO KNOWS MY NAME ("Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows who are His,"...... 2 Timothy 2:19a) AND HE KNOWS ALL OF OUR NEEDS! THERE IS HOPE, THERE IS A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL YOU ARE GOING THROUGH AND HIS NAME IS JESUS!

As difficult as 2010 looks as though it's going to be, THERE IS A GOD who cradles us in His loving arms and encourages us onward. I am so eternally thankful that I know and love Him and have given Him my life, my everything. There are those who seek to harm others, but I know that my GOD will fight for me in every area of my life.
"The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,...." Deuteronomy 1:30
I need not fear and I need not retalliate. I will be silent and simply pray.

My friend, we will all choose this year whom we shall serve...
"If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15

I choose life....I choose JESUS in 2010....HE is all I have to cling to. Please know that those of you who read this, are in my heart and my prayers in this new year.