The Circumstances Don’t Matter…

I realized yesterday that it is very difficult to be excited about all the new challenges ahead in the New Year when one is feeling rotten and wanting to sleep all day!  Yep… I admit it… I caught the cold that the kids in Oklahoma had been dealing with and whatever the guy next to me on the plane from Denver to Raleigh was coughing up on our three plus hour flight home.  Not the most promising way to start off the New Year wouldn’t you say?

Well, I am just glad that as Christians we don’t have to be moved by outward circumstances or even by the way we feel when it is contrary to the Word of God!  As most of you probably know, I Peter 2:24 (plus many other scriptures) tells us that by Christ stripes we were healed, so I am holding on to the truth of that Word instead of how I may feel, which by the way… is a lot better today!

I got a surge of excitement earlier this morning when I wrote down my new theme for 2019 at the top of my Bible study note page and declared aloud: “I have a joy that’s unspeakable, unexplainable and contrary to any negative reports, circumstances, thoughts or even of the unknown and all its potential fears!”  And again, my stand of faith for this New Year is based on a Word that I believe the Lord gave me from I Peter 1:8 where Peter compliments the Jews who were spread abroad because of persecutions saying, “(Jesus) Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” (KJV)

Most likely all of you know my story… of how I lost my wife, best friend and almost constant companion a few months back and face what could be considered a very uncertain future.  I still wake up almost every morning fully expecting her to be lying next to me as she did for over forty years, only to be shocked back into the reality that she has moved on to her heavenly reward and I… Well, I am alone and left without her!  And many times throughout the day, I get an overwhelming sense of being lost as to what my future is going to look like!

But then I almost instantly go back to my knowledge of our loving heavenly Father and His faithfulness to His Word of promise that He has given to us who actively believe.  That’s why my theme for 2019 means so much to me at this point in my life.  I can’t see what is going to happen today, tomorrow, next month or even next summer… but I can still rejoice with a joy that is unspeakable and unexplainable because I am trusting in Him for, He knows my future… and with that in mind… I can rest assured that it’s going to be good!

Kinda cool don’t ya think?  You and I don’t have to depend on the circumstances that surround us, the balance in our bank accounts, whether you have a yucky cold or not… or any other negative situation… because our trust is in the Lord and the truth of His Word!  And that’s all I need!  What about you?  After all, it got me through the last ten years as my beautiful wife slipped away from me… and it will get me through the next twenty, or thirty, or more? (Like I told my cousin yesterday… “We come from strong stock!”)

Have a great rest of the week and beginning of the New Year. 

You know?  Even though I can’t hardly imagine it, I am excited to see what the good Lord has in store for me and everyone else who stands in ACTIVE faith in Him and His Word!  Kind of stirs up the expectancy don’t you think?  Be blessed in 2019 as you say with me… “I am expecting God’s best for me in 2019 because I choose to ACTIVILY believe in Him and His Word!”