What's in a year?

One year of life is about to come to a close with another year wide open ahead of me, what will I do with that year of my life? Will I lose the 70 pounds I so long to lose? Will I get my household organized and put in order? I know, maybe I'll write that great novel I've always wished I had in me.

Though these are great goals, through the love and grace of God my heart is weighing heaving with different goals this year. My goals are simple: to love God with all my heart, soul, and mind. To love my neighbor as myself (including the girls that have hurt my daughter - wait a minute do I really need to include them). To learn how to live a life of simplicity and contentment.

Only through God's grace have I made it this far; when I reflect on the past there are so many times I wished I would have said/handled things differently. But they are just that - in the past.

I have listed below the lyrics of a song from Point Of Grace that addresses our past and I find it to be so true for me, that song is entitled "Heal the Wound".

I used to wish that I could rewrite history
I used to dream that each mistake could be erased
Then I could just pretendI never knew the me back then

I used to pray that You would take this shame away
Hide all the evidence of who I've been But it's the memory of
The place You brought me from That keeps me on my knees
And even though I'm free

Heal the wound but leave the scar
A reminder of how merciful You are
I am broken, torn apart Take the pieces of this heart
And heal the wound but leave the scar

I have not lived a life that boasts of anything
I don't take pride in what I bringBut I'll build an altar
withThe rubble that You've found me inAnd every stone
will singOf what You can redeem

Heal the wound but leave the scarA reminder of how merciful You are
I am broken, torn apart Take the pieces of this heart And heal the
wound but leave the scar

Don't let me forget Everything You've done for me Don't let me forget
The beauty in the suffering Heal the wound but leave the scar
A reminder of how merciful You areI am broken, torn apart

Take the pieces of this heart And heal the wound but leave the scar.


I still want/need to lose the weight, I can't help further the kingdom if I am not in the best shape/health I can be in. And I do need to keep things organized at home or that will lead to utter caoas. And as for that great novel, only God knows if one will ever materialize.

But I do know with God anything is possible.

Why Go To Church

Here is another great e-mail I received:

If you're spiritually alive, you're going to love this!
If you're spiritually dead, you won't want to read this.
If you're spiritually Curious, there is still hope!

A church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. I've gone for 30 years now, 'he wrote', and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons.

But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.'

This started real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor' column, much to the delight of editor.

It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
'I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this, they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals I would be physically dead today. Likewise if I had not gone to church for nourishment I would be spiritually dead today!'

When you are down to nothing...God is up to something! Faith sees the invisible, believers the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical and our spiritual nourishment!

Thoughts to Ponder

Don't miss out getting what you need because you're looking for what you want.