Saying Bye to 2023 and Hello to 2024!!

Lots going on the past few weeks and yet some great days of rest and relaxation.

Our last weekend of 2023 including grandson, Alex going to church with us at Keystone Community Church where we heard and was challenged by Colin as he spoke about Training in Godliness. The scripture used 1 Tim 4:6-8

I appreciated that the sermon was not the typical end of year, set resolutions, run the race. Instead I felt challenged and challenged in a good way.

Scriptures shared were:

and

From my notes:

• My daily walk as a christian needs to be moving forward.
• If I’m not feeling successful I will want to give up SO I want to be successful ~ not successful as the world may see success but successful being a daughter of the King!
• To love something you must KNOW and UNDERSTAND it.
• All we are ~ are our habits. Good, bad or indifferent ~ what I do is who I am.
• Focus on the present; stop looking at the past
• Look to the future and all that God has for me.
• Be consistent; baby steps are fine but don’t stay like a baby ~ it’s time to grow.
• To be a disciple of Christ I need discipline in my life ~ be intentional.
• I need to plan and follow through.

As I opened up my daily devotional this morning

seemed to continue the theme from yesterday’s sermon – Be Purposeful! and I found myself saying “Lord, help me to cry out for you daily, not just during the hard times but also when life is calm and peaceful. 

The prayer for today: Poppa God you made me your child. You chose me. In Your kindness you adopted me

(I stop and think about Rita and Bonnie from a long time ago – Rita was a mom who adopted Bonnie and how I dreamed of having a mom like her. She loved her kids, she made them feel important. I used to say Rita was my adopted, adopted mom because she had adopted Bonnie so I couldn’t be her adopted daughter BUT I could be her adopted, adopted daughter! I am so thankful for how Rita loved me, encouraged me, taught me to love and be thankful for each blessing that came my way.)

Thank you Poppa God for choosing me, for adopting me and calling me your daughter!!! Thank you for rescuing me from sin and death. It is so easy for me to live each day on my schedule, my way. Instead Poppa God, help me to live in Your light and Your grace!!! Thank you for accepting me as I am but not leaving me the same BUT helping me to grow into the woman you want me to become!!!

• There is no need to fear that I will be ignored, Poppa God is always with me.
• I can talk to Poppa God any day, any time because He is always available!
• God listens Intently and Carefully, Always!!

We continued our weekend with a delicious ham, broccoli and cheese quiche that Alex made for us, lots of movies, eating chips and dip and more candy than anyone person needs in a day 😂 but it sure tasted good. 

We played some Uno ~ and we talked about something Colin had said about children need to be successful 70% of the time for them to keep going. He mentioned something about parents and grandparents need to let the little’s win once in awhile which Ron promptly turned to me and said “nope ~ not on his watch.” And Grandpa whipped our behinds by winning 3x and Alex got 2nd every game!!! We talked about playing Boggle but Grandpa nixed that idea (he hates to lose 😂! And then we watched the Ball fall in NYC. And called it a night. After sleeping in ~ thank you Grandpa for taking Charlie out for a walk, we watched

before taking Alex home! It was a great way to end 2023 and begin 2024!!!

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Wishing each of you a Happy 2024 Year!!!