The new year has begun! We’ve rung it in! Now let’s determine to live it for the One who made it! Here to begin us on the journey are some great quotes.
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – C. S. Lewis
The starting point of all achievement is desire. – Napoleon Hill
The darkest night is often the bridge to the brightest tomorrow. – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Another Sunrise, Another New Beginning – Jonathan Lockwood Huie
Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared. – Eddie Rickenbacker
The world may indeed fall apart. We don’t have to crumble with it. But holding it together is going to involve letting go of the things of the world that we have come to love.
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. I John 2:15
You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Rev. 2: 3-5
As I face the New Year and prepare my heart for the time of dedication our church is heading into I am making a list of the things God would have me release this year. How would God have you simplify your life in 2013 to release yourself from the burdens of the world…the love of the world?
Sometimes the best way to launch a new venture is by capitalizing on the victories of the past. I am determined to believe great things of 2013 in spite of the significant challenges I see ahead. For the God who did such great things in 2012 is still the God of this moment and of all the moments that lie ahead. His power is not diminished by our national debt, or by the threat of winter storm G—– coming soon to a state near you. In the face of future tragedies his love will not pale or lose its potency. He is God, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and the End. He is the same yesterday today and forever! Let’s believe Him for big things in 2013 as we thank Him for what He did in 2012.
Here is a brief list of my Thanksgivings for 2012:
1. I am thankful that God met my sister’s budgetary needs so she could move to The Netherlands for the work of missions.
Brenda and Leqad Missionary Judy Mensch
2. I am thankful that God supernaturally healed Brenda from a terrible sinus infection in one minute with no medication just before the Easter play was scheduled to go up!
3. I am thankful that God provided an eight week internship for my daughter to Thailand for $700.00.
A trip down the river, Thailand
4. I am thankful God provided for a thirteen week internship for my son in Myanmar.
Joe in the air control tower at Yangon. He has been helping air traffic controllers with their English.
5. I am so thankfu God gave me time to visit relatives in both Maine and The Netherlands.
I visit Maine
St. Bavo’s sits in the center of Haarlem Sqare.
6. I am thankful for the opportunity to minister in music at Special Touch Camp in Connecticut with my daughter.
My first year working at Special Touch
7. I am thankful that after being hospitalized four times last year my daughter Amanda’s migraines are under control.
Amanda
8. I am thankful that the grammatical edits on my book are done!
9. I am thankful that after a bad tomato harvest in my own garden someone gave me a enough tomatoes to make a gallon of sauce!
tomatoes
10. I am thankful that the Holy Spirit has been showing up in service when our church gathers. I am so blessed that our church is alive with His presence!
11. I am thankful that our lead pastor took the staff this fall to the Cape for a ministers retreat with Mark Batterson
Sunset DIamonds by JE Lillie Cape Cod
11. I am thankful that our artists community has continued to meet.
second annual art show
12. I am thankful for the wonderful team of people God has allowed me to work with all these years.
Praise God for the big and the little in 2012. It will cast a better glow on 2013.
Our church begins every new year with 21 days of fasting and prayer. I am sensing that the season of prayer in 2013 will be perhaps the most significant of them all. Our Lead Pastor has asked the congregation to join him in a Daniel fast. We are also going to be participating in a church-wide Bible study campaign called The Circle Maker.
Last night I received a call about yet another death in our congregation. Maybe it’s just my vantage point but it seems that all our world is shaking. I sense deep in my heart it is not going to stop. Prayer is our solid ground. Let me encourage you to find your secret place of prayer with Jesus as 2013 dawns! For He is our hope and a mighty source of strength! As Robin Mark has written “Though these are days of great trials, of famine and darkness and sword, still we are the voice in the desert crying “Prepare Ye the way of the Lord.” Days of Elijah
I appreciate those of you who have commented about praying for this season of mourning for our church. I sense the power of those prayers. Here’s the thing! I am determined to claim victory in the face of every enemy that confronts the church in Winchendon. In this mighty battle we have the high ground for we have Jesus. Our Savior has defeated even Satan’s greatest weapon which is death. Those who have passed from this realm in the last months have gone onto glory according to their Christian testimony. Theirs is a mighty overcoming. In the light of that, though Satan’s weapons sting in the moment of their release our shield of faith quenches every fiery dart.
In 2013 let the church raise up a constant praise to silence the foe and the avenger wherever he may gather against us to battle! Be brave my friends! Be brave and advance against this present darkness!
I am preparing myself for a funeral this morning. Not three days ago I was celebrating the birth of the newest member of our congregation along with the birth of the world’s Savior, Jesus.
What is the message as we approach 2013? In this world darkness and light will continue to vie against each other. Darkness may grow but as long as the church is in the world…as long as the church trusts in the strength of the only hope then light will be overcome the darkness however strong it may appear.
As the last flames of Christmas pass the entire world turns its gaze to the beginning of a new year. What will 2013 require of us? A call from the Holy Spirit rings through the rafters of our churches. Before the trumpet sounds and the voice of the great arch angel calls us home we have work to do. We have a message to proclaim to the world which comes from the very throne of God.
Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross in our place, rose from the dead breaking the chains of sin and death, ascended to the right hand of God the Father where he ever makes intercession for us. Now if we will confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead we shall be saved from the wrath which is to come. Mankind cannot save itself. No government on Earth can stay the tide of what is coming. Only Jesus can rescue us from what lies ahead and He will rescue those who put their faith in Him.
Our message sounds like a no-brainer. An offer has been made. A way out has been provided. But Jesus has made it clear that the good news will surely be rejected by many and those who reject it will become increasingly oppositional. It’s a mess for sure! But as my blogging friend J.S. Park has said “We need game-changers. Words about love sound pretty; actually loving people is messy. Be part of the mess.”
He came! The Promise of the Ages was fulfilled in Jesus! If we believe that He fulfilled the promise of His first coming how shall we not also believe that He shall fulfill the promises of His second coming?
Every year we sing “The First Noel”. We are so far beyond that now. We are tonight celebrating the 2012th Noel (give or take). It amazes me that being so far separated from the event we yet celebrate it. That fact alone speaks to the importance of the act, God coming to dwell among us! How blessed are we that the Creator chose to take on the form of man…to become one of us…to bear our sin and so liberate the entire creation from the bondage to decay!
Merry Christmas friends! Never forget what God did for us!
One night a year during the Christmas season our church family gathers to send Christmas carollers out into the community. This is an opportunity for the two areas of ministry I work in ( creative arts and pastoral care) to meld together to bless our townships. I love the chances God’s children get at Christmas to spread the Light of Jesus.
Photo courtesy of Tamie Charbonneau
Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven’s making. ~Leigh Hunt
photo courtesy of Tamie Charbonneau
Isaiah 9:2 tells us that people walking in darkness will see a great light. That light God has chosen to shine through us! What an awesome privilege we have to be chosen to be His ministers to the world!
A Partridge In a Pear Tree.:hoto courtesy of Tamie Charbonneau
Great little One! whose all-embracing birth Lifts Earth to Heaven, stoops Heaven to Earth. ~Richard Crashaw
Cousin Charlie Photo courtesy of Tamie Charbonneau
Who is God calling you to share the light with this Christmas? Nothing else about this season is as important!
I love the high holy days of the church! The world can try to turn Christmas into Winter Holiday, Kwanzaa, or End of the Mayan World Day for that matter, but as long as the church inhabits the earth, this time of year will remain Christmas the season in which we celebrate the birth of Christ. You can’t stop the church…or its Christmas because its backers ( that would be Father, Son and Holy Ghost in case you were wondering) are too powerful.
I am really thankful to Lizzie from http://kickingtheleaves.wordpress.com/ for tagging me in “The Christmas Tag”. If you have not stopped by her blog give her a read this season!
Here are the questions I have been asked about Christmas:
What’s your favourite thing about Christmas?When I was little my mom was an ER nurse. It seemed she always pulled the Christmas Eve shift. Dad ran the town restaurant. He closed two days a year, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Christmas morning mom would get home about 7 A.M. and head off to bed for a few hours of shut-eye and my sister and I would open our stockings by ourselves while mom and dad took advantage of a ” day of rest”. I say all this just to point out there wasn’t a whole lot of Jesus in our Christmas. My folks worked through his birth!
As I have aged I have discovered that the whole gift giving end of Christmas has waned in importance. My favorite part of the season is the church celebration. Christmas Eve is one of the most important services of my year and when Christmas falls on a Sunday…I feel like I am living in a Dickens novel!
What is your favourite make-up look for the festive season?
Make-up? Ummm….
Real or fake tree?
Most definitely fake. I like to put the tree up on Thanksgiving so a real tree would be brown by Christmas.
Giving presents or receiving them?
I think I could actually go without presents. I love the idea of giving to a missions project for the season. I probably would do this for everybody if I knew that I wouldn’t offend certain people on my list by giving their gift to someone else.
Do you open your presents on Christmas morning or evening?
The last couple of years we have actually not opened our gifts until the kids came home at the New Year. I have really pared down, too, so the holiday is more about being together than about the gifts.
Handmade Christmas cards or bought?
Usually I buy my cards.
What’s your favourite Christmas film?
The Nativity…And Little Women the old version with June Allison playing Jo.
What’s your favourite Christmas food?
Lasagna and cole slaw, eggnog and pumpkin roll! 🙂
Here are the three folks I am choosing to tag for this challenge.
Reinventing the We'll 