“And the LORD, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.”
Deuteronomy 31:8
Here we are, 10 days into 2021!!😍 A fresh year has found its way to each one of us but many of us are most likely finding last year’s challenges and trials followed closely behind as we entered the new year! New year… same old fallen world… same me and same you. 😉 Conflict, chaos, and confusion still fill this sin-filled world even though 2020 has passed. Difficulties will not dissolve with the change of the calendar but what can change is how we respond to the difficulties we face. As you face each day of 2021 will you be resolved? Will you be resolved to throw off the weight and the sin which so easily entangles you as you set your gaze steadfastly on Jesus Christ? If so, you will run with endurance for 2021[Heb 12:1-3]! Will you be resolved to “Put on the WHOLE armour of God”? If so, you will “be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”[Eph 6:11-18]! In 2021 [and beyond] will you be resolved to “Be anxious for nothing, BUT IN EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God”? If so, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind[Phil 4:6-7]! Will you be resolved to “count it all joy” when trials come your way in this new year? If So, you will find yourself “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”[James 1:2-4]! Will you be resolved to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks? If so, you will be doing God’s will for 2021[1 Thes 5:16-18]!! Will you be resolved to trust in the Lord with ALL your heart, leaning not on your own understanding, and acknowledging Him in ALL your ways? If so, He will make your path straight before you[Prov 3:5-6]! Will you be resolved to DILIGENTLY SEEK THE LORD in 2021? If so, He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him[Heb 11:6]! If the answer is yes to all the above, this year and all that it may hold will be one of the BEST YET! Your heart will sing “It is well, it is well with my soul”. Please understand, resolving to do the above cannot be done in one’s own strength BUT must and only can be done in the strength of the Lord, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Phil 4:13. As you resolve to honor the Lord in how you react to whatever you face today, tomorrow will be bright and 2021 will be truly blessed! So, are you resolved? That is my random 2021 thought for the evening and a slightly past-due Happy New Year to you all!! 🙌🏻♥️☺️🎉
When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul
QUESTION!! Are you a New Year’s Resolution maker? If so, do you have any 2021 Resolutions or goals?? Name 1 area of your life[physical or spiritual] you would like to see growth in during 2021? I’d love to know so I can be praying for you in that area!
“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:12-14
Physical resolution: to continue to heal from my skin condition so I can go into my marriage medication free.
Spiritual resolution: to maintain a steady focus on God while planning our wedding and being separated from my fiancé during all the disturbing happenings in the world.
Praying for you, Hannah!! 🙏 May the Lord grant you full healing and give you the grace + strength to keep focused steadfastly on Him. ♥️
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
Isaiah 41:10
I’m going to plan to use this as the children and my morning devotional. 💞
💕 Happy New Year, Rebekah and family!
Amen!!!!! 🙌🏻 No matter what happens, our God is still the same, yesterday, today, and forever!!! We can take heart in Him!!!!✨
Yes!!! “God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.” He is faithful!!! ♥️🤗
Thank you! What you said is so encouraging. This year was particularly difficult for me and my family, but through it all, we’ve also seen just how good and faithful God is. May we continue to fix our eyes on Him and be grateful despite what may happen!
I do not have very much of a New Year’s resolution, except for one thing: to know God better and know His will for my life. I have no idea what the future holds for all of us, but I know the one who holds the future.
My verse for this year is Isaiah 26: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Thanks so much again for the encouragement :)
Isn’t it amazing how the most trying of times proves over and again the faithfulness + mercy of the Lord God?! I’m so thankful that in a year of difficulty, God gave your family the grace you needed for the trialed you faced! 🤗♥️
Amen to your resolution!! That is the best Resolution to have!! 🙏 I’m praying that 2021 is a year you draw all the nearer to the Lord as He reveals His perfect will to you, Alaina!!
“When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.”Psalms 27:8
This was such an encourageing post to me!!! Thank you for sharing your “random thought”!!!! 💖🙌🏻
My main goal for 2021 is to be an encouragement to all those around me, and to strive to trust the Lord’s will, and be content in it rather than wishing everything was going the way I want it to 😃😄💖
I am so blessed to hear it encouraged you, Anna!! Praise the Lord. One of those random thoughts that wouldn’t let me sleep until I typed it out and blogged it.😉❤️
With those goals for 2021, you can’t go wrong!! I am praying for you as you seek to encourage others, trust the Lord, and be content right where the Lord has you!!! 🙏🏼🙌🏻💗
“Let your manner of living be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For He hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” Hebrews 13:5
Thanks to everyone that has shared on this blog, and your answers and verses, Rachel, have blessed my soul.
The Lord gave you such an amazing blog entry, Rachel! How it ministered to my heart! I copied and pasted it into Word so I can access it easily. :-) God gives us what we need, when we need it. He gave us our most precious and beloved Jesus!! He will carry us through all that He has ordained for us this year and beyond, until He takes us home. He will use everything for His glory and our ultimate good and spiritual growth, becoming closer and closer to the image of Christ.
That is what I hope for this year: to be more like Jesus at the end of the year than I am now.
You are right, Rachel. That takes the power of the Holy Spirit! I cannot achieve it in the flesh. “But my God will supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:19) “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works…” (Eph. 2:10)
My little brother in prison wrote something in his last correspondence that I would like to share. He has been incarcerated 5 years, with over 5 years to go. God has been molding him into a man of God. Lately, a few setbacks and heartaches have befallen him. One thing that I will share is his prison job was changed from being a prison lawyer to being a houseman, cleaning bathrooms. He does it voluntarily. He told me that the Lord is teaching him contentment in Christ.
“I learned a lot about myself this past year.
I asked God to teach me patience and draw me closer to Him.
When you ask Him to teach you something, things never go how you expect them to.
In Love, He removed several very cherished things out of my life, to draw me in closer to Him.
I don’t know if He will restore any of them, but I am slowly internalizing the fact that He is truly doing what is best for me, so I have placed it all in His hands.
I came to such a place of surrender to God’s provision for me, that I didn’t suffer the pain of depression that I had in previous Christmases.
He has really humbled me.
It has been a positive experience.”
“More Secure Is No One Ever”
What He takes and what He gives us;
Shows the Father’s love so precious,
We may trust His purpose wholly –
‘Tis His children’s welfare solely.
Praise the Lord! I am rejoicing to hear He used it to minister to your heart!🙏🏼♥️ That is an answer to the prayers I prayed as I pushed publish on this post. Isn’t The Lord so kind and gracious to use us to encourage each other?! Your comment truly blessed my heart. I have been thinking about all you shared throughout the day as I worked!
I am praying your hope for 2021 “to be more like Jesus at the end of the year than I am now.” comes to fruition by the power of the Holy Spirit working in you! I was reminded of John 15 as I read your 2021 goal and reminded more specifically verses 5 and 16!!
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.”
“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain…”
Praise the Lord for your brother’s testimony of the Lord teaching him patience.♥️ I was very much blessed by “In Love, He removed several very cherished things out of my life, to draw me in closer to Him… I am slowly internalizing the fact that He is truly doing what is best for me, so I have placed it all in His hands.” Amen!
Thank you so much for sharing, Sheri! What a great reminder as we enter the new year!! 🙌🏻✨
“Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the Day of Jesus Christ.” Phil 1:6
Beautiful post Rachel!! very encouraging and blessed me greatly. 🤗😄☺️🙂😁
Yes, I do make resolutions and goals and I did make a few this year. 🙂
Set up an Etsy shop that I’ve been meaning to set up for a while to sell glass cabachon necklaces and wood plaques with hand lettering on them. Do the SPRING100 and exercise more in general. 😁🏃 🙃Finish memorizing Ephesians 4 and to memorize Psalm 47 with a friend in Canada.😁😊 Serve and encourage my family and others and strengthen my relationship with God and my family.😁🤗🙂 Keep in touch with all my friends even though I’m going to be very busy with a lot of things esp. in the next couple months. 🙂 We have a lot of things going on but I want to show my friends that I really care about them by still keeping in touch even if I’m really busy. 😃😊😉😍😁🤗🙂😄🤗😁
I want to exercise more this year. It’s easier for me to exercise when I have a partner but I want to train myself to do it anyway even when I don’t have a partner!! 🙂🙃😉🏃🏋️😄
Trust the Lord FULLY in everything!! Encourage others and serve others. 🙂
What are some of your goals Rachel???
And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Caroline!! I have been thinking about you so often lately that your comment coming gave me such a huge smile!! 👏🏻😄 I thank the Lord to hear the post encouraged you. Such an encouragement to know!!♥️♥️♥️
WOWOWOW! Your Resolutions/goals are FABULOUS!! And broad too.😍🎉I love how you have everything from starting your own shop to exercise to scripture memorization to seeking the Lord. Way to go, Caroline! I look forward to seeing your new Etsy shop when it is up. That is EXCITING! 😄💞
“We have a lot of things going on but I want to show my friends that I really care about them by still keeping in touch even if I’m really busy.” That will definitely bless your friends. Good thinking, Caroline!! 💕👌🏼
I will be praying this year is marked by greater/deeper trust in the Lord in every area of life and one that is filled with much godly encouragement and service to others!! May the Lord richly bless you in 2021, Caroline! 🙏🏼
“What are some of your goals Rachel???” Well, the funny thing is I am not a New Year’s Resolution maker… usually!!😉 Not out of fear of failing but because if you were to ask me to write a bucket list for a new year, I would draw a blank. BUT this year I have a few desires and goals!
1.) To draw nearer to God and trust Him more fully!“But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works.” Ps 73:28
2.) To sacrificially live and serve daily. In the big things and the small things! “even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
3.) To delight in the Word and meditate on it day and night! “But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Ps 1:2
To remain focused and consistent on #3, I am using Robert Murray M‘Cheyne’sBible Reading Plan this year and LOVING it. :) Also, doing a Psalm a day along with the reading plan!!
And those are my goals for 2021!! Whatever may take place this year, my desire and prayer is that the Lord God is glorified through me. By His grace! 🙏🏼♥️
HAPPY NEW YEAR, Caroline!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉
Those are amazing goals and resolutions and amen to all of them!! 🙂🤗😁 Thank you for the beautiful verses you shared! 🙂🤗😊
Yes!! my prayer as well is that God will be glorified in everything I do and say!🙂
May the Lord richly bless YOU in 2021 Rachel!! You are such an encouragement to others!! 😊😉🤗😁🙂
Rachel, your “random thoughts” encouraged and blessed me sooo much!! Thank you for sharing them!!!!!!!!
I do like to make goals for the new year! Some of mine are… grow closer to Christ by reading/studying His word and praying, set up an Etsy shop for my quilting business, walk 200 miles this Spring100 :), and work on some life skills such as learning the piano and being a homemaker.
One area I want to grow in this year is having a humble heart that wants to serve others!
Hey Sarah!! 🙂 That’s neat that we both have a goal to set up an Esty shop and to do the SPRING100!! 😄😁😄
A couple years ago I started learning piano from my Mom but then our lives got SUPER busy and we kinda just got out of the habit of her teaching me and I kinda stopped practicing so I’m hoping to pick up again on learning it sometime in the next couple years but we’re actually going to be moving soon and we’re not taking our piano with us so I’m going to have to wait until we can buy a new one which will definitely be a year or so.🙃 And I’m going to be walking the SPRING100 in a different state this year!! 😁😄🙂😁
Hey Caroline! Yes, it is neat that we have some of the same goals! Actually, from reading your comments on different posts, I think we have a lot in common…from liking cats to being in a big family! I always enjoy reading your comments. :)
I have enjoyed learning the piano this year! I’ve tried to learn off and on for a couple of years (I even tried to learn Southern Gospel style from my sister who plays AMAZINGLY, but that didn’t go very far :) ), but now I am learning how to play hymns and I am enjoying it!! Hopefully you will get to learn sometime soon!
Oh, what state are you moving to, if you don’t mind me asking? Maybe it’s near me!
Hey again Sarah!!😊😁🙂
Yes! cats are amazing!! and so are big families!!😁 And I love Southern Gospel music!! it’s one of my favorite styles of music!! :) :) Good luck learning piano more!!🙂 Do you play any other instruments? We’re moving to Iowa. :) A long ways from where we are now in Ohio. 🙃😉🙃 Have a lovely rest of your day! 🙂
Oh wow! I LOVE Southern Gospel music and it is so rare to find other young people who do!!!! I am definitely going to have to give you my email address so we can talk more about our favorites groups, etc! No, I don’t play any other instruments (oh wait, I do play the recorder and penny whistle, but not every much), but all my siblings play instruments and our family sings at various churches and events throughout the year. Okay, well we live in AR, so not close at all. :( Oh well! I would love to connect more so if you want to here’s my email address….
Hope you have a great day, also!
Thank you for leaving your encouraging comments and blessing me, Sarah!! 💕
Love your 2021 goals!! May the Lord bless you as you seek Him through His Word. I also look forward to hearing when you have your Quilt shop open! Way to go!! Learning to earn an income from home is a huge blessing.👏🏻
I am praying that 2021 is a year filled with humble service to the Lord and all those He puts in your path, Sarah!! May it be the best year yet as you set your heart on HIM. 🙏🏼 Happy New Year!!
“A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.” Proverbs 29:23
Well Sarah, it won’t let me reply directly to your comment so hopefully you will see this! 🙂
That’s is amazing that you love southern gospel music!! I’m the only one in my whole family who likes it and I bought a LOT of southern gospel music on Amazon and they don’t like any of it!😂🙃😉😁
And I would LOVE to connect more with you!! 😉😁🤗😊🙂 I got my own e-mail set up just yesterday so I’ll e-mail you soon!! 😁😊🙂
Thank you for this post, Rachel! I have made a few goals this year, but my biggest one would probably be to learn to slow down and rest more, both physically and spiritually. Thank you for all of the truth of God’s Word that you shared with us in this post!!
Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. Psalm 116:7
I’m praying your 2021 is one of rest and refreshment for you, Bethany!! Both physically and spiritually. ♥️
“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.”
Psalms 37:7
Aw, It is a pleasure and such an honor to be able to share His Word!! Thank you for being an encouragement.🤗💕
Such a beautiful, truth filled post!🙌🙏❤
God is soooo good!!🙌❤ Thank you so much, Rachel! I printed out a copy!☺
Oh yes, I like to make goals/resolutions…😁
some of which would definitely be more love and trust in the Lord, contentment and thanksgiving! Also a wise use of time…
so thankful that God has work for us to do, no matter what is going on around us, He always has something!☺
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:10
Happy New Year, Rachel!🤗 God’s blessings to you!
Jill! 🤗♥️ What a blessing to hear from you. Amen!! He is so gooood!!
I’m praying 2021 is filled with a deeper love and trust in our Lord and Savior and a heart that is constantly given to thanksgiving!! May the Lord God richly bless you in it. 💕
“Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.”
Psalms 150:6
Looking forward to praising Him with you in 2021 and beyond!! 🙌🏻💗