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Wednesday, January 1, 2014

A NEW YEAR

A new year. A new start. A fresh beginning.
The past is just that-past.
New hopes, dreams, resolutions.
The failures of yesterday, the past year and years ago, don't have to be who we will be this year.
We can start anew.
That is amazing and gives me HOPE.
The hurts and pain and suffering of 2013 don't have to define who we are in 2014. A chance to be the person we want to be.

THE wonderful news about all this is: it is a new year; we can start anew. But do you realize that we can start each day like this? We don't have to let our previous days missteps define how we begin each day. 

I started the new year this morning as I have for the past 15 years; reading Psalm 119.
This psalm is all about the Word of God and how it is meant to give us hope in our lives. All the different words used such as regulations, decrees, commandments, ordinances and laws are just the same variation (mostly) of God's Word and how we should respond to His Word. 
Today, God's Word is THE BIBLE. 
It is the most widely published, Best seller of any book of ALL time.
As I wrote parts of the 176 verses in my journal this morning, I was overwhelmed again how God wants us to know Him, by how much He loves and pursues us, and how He has given us an Instruction book on how to go through life.
Psalm 119:73 says:

"You made me; You created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commandments."

God gave us His Word, the Bible, to help us, to guide us through our time on this earth. 
What if we all had the sense to follow His commands?
How different would our world be if we were to always obey God?
We would be lovers of people, we would look out for the least marginalized, we would consider others to be more important than ourselves and we would seek GOD.

Our world would be a completely different place, the earth that God had envisioned.
We, as individuals, might think we cannot make a difference, but we can. 
One person at a time.
If we seek God, seek to obey Him, seek to serve Him in however He may direct in each of our individual lives, our own little world around us would be different. We would have an impact. Whether it be large or small. 
I am amazed of the enormous amount of stories I read of how one person can make a difference. I truly believe this is what God intended for each of us.

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible, but it is filled with encouragement, hope and much needed advice on how to navigate through life.
That is why I start each year reading it. I need the reminder that God's Word is relevant today; thousands of years after it was written. That it is not just the best selling book of all time, it is our guide book for life.
I read it this morning in the New Living Translation, which is a bit more modern of a translation that keeps the original Hebrew and Greek words in context, and I loved reading every line of it. It takes maybe 15 minutes if you were to read it straight thru.
I would highly encourage and admonish you to take the time, either today or before this week ends to read this Psalm in its entirety.
If you do not have a bible, you can go to
www.biblegateway.com

and search Psalm 119 and pick the version you want to read .

Oh LORD, give us the sense to follow Your commandments and You.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! May you seek to know the GOD who loves us so completely in this year.



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