December 27, 2016

Greetings My Friend Christmas is now past for this year and our minds turn toward the end of this year, the beginning of the New Year. For me I begin to reflect back on the year and view my faith journey and my relationships. This year's longing for family has faded and I am finding a new comfort in my faith walk, a personal one on one with Jesus in the quiet of my life. Throughout the year God has been showing me that I have become part of the family of God and it feels good. Certain words in the Bible spoke to me frequently this year and I saw them for insistence I saw "Spirit" a lot more and the reality struck me that God is Spirit so relating to Him I must meet my spirit more so and I believe I am in that process right now. It was hard moving from the flesh to the spirit in me but in reality all that is of God is truly in the spirit of man. My flesh loves to have a lot of people around me, to immerse myself into all the latest fashion, gadgets and such. Those things are truly fun at times and I admit that I love getting into a cold truck during the winter and feeling the warmth of heat on my back from the seat heaters. Except one day I tend to wake up and notice that heat in the seats is nice but it isn't filling that deep void in me. The only way that deep void is filled is walking away from all the things of the flesh and searching, seeking and allowing God to fill the void. Slowly over many years I am finding that it is okay to spend quiet holiday afternoons at home doing much of what I do throughout the week like cooking a healthy meal, an afternoon nap and a bit of sewing or crafting. I felt that void moving away from me as I dehydrated food for this winter all summer and working up the ability to make 2 meals a day. I have found a family of believers who allow me to love them, to share my life's journey with. Many are in the church I go to and we encourage each other giving strength to part and go into the world with the Good News of Jesus only to meet again to encourage, to share our faith journey with. I find joy seeing some of the youth from my past that are now adults living in the faith of Jesus. I see it by the way they raise their children and the values they share as believers in Jesus. We connect sometimes with an encouraging word here and there. I also am in a faith journey with some friends on line that I have never met and we share our struggles with health and with our faith. I am amazed at how quietly this all crept up on me. In the midst of my reflecting I notice that my walk is continuing to grow and the yearly question I ask myself has been answered before the question fully formed in my mind, yes I am closer to Jesus at the end of the year than I was at the start of the year. I fretted because the world doesn't see that as a follower of Jesus that I love others who are different than I am. I care about all people meeting Jesus and the life decision we must all answer before we die. I tried to voice it and my voice was unheard, then God reminded me that He heard and knows that I care. He reminded me again just because my sin is different than someone else's to Him both are just as wrong and that to be forgiven for whatever sins I have I must be washed in the blood of Jesus. He died for me just as much as He died for all sinners. My job is to love to share that love and to tell about the deepest love of all a baby born in a manger who grew up and lived among us and died for us. My job is to tell, to reach out with God's love and the Holy Spirit will convict the hearts of those I reach out to. I find the anxiousness leaving me and to keep myself focused on Jesus. I will tell the story again and again the story of Jesus, the story of my life and how Jesus has changed me and continues to change me. I have added a new testimony to my life story it is "I am a grateful follower of Jesus and I have Parkinson's. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you, love Janet