... at this season next year.

                      Genesis 17. 21

(And sometimes we must wait.

God's timing is always perfect.

It is not that God is not ready,

          but am I?

The waiting room

        is never a time of sitting around,

but of training 

               not for what "happens,"

but for the divine purposes

       God has already prepared.)

Lift up your eyes,

and look from the place

        where you are...

                     Genesis 13. 14

(Look where you are,

       not where you are not.

God is at work there

   even in ways you cannot see.

Be not so quick or anxious

           to be someplace else

    or the other side of the fence.

You are strategically placed

       for a reason,

       for a season,

for His purposes fulfilled.)

Now Sarai was barren;
       she had no child.

             Genesis 11. 30

(Despair is not the end of your story,
     but where Jesus
     meets you in your deepest need.
God had greater plans for Sarah
in unexpected ways.
Just as He does for you.)

But God....

           Genesis 8. 1

(God enters in
    and changes everything.
The LORD is neither a consideration
nor a distant variable in my day
but the very center of it
     upon which
     all things revolve.
Don't miss what He is doing.)

Bear fruit

   that befits repentance.

               Matthew 3. 8

(What does "redeemed" look like

             in this?

If I am forgiven,

          everything changes.

All that I do,

all that I choose,

all that I see

and say

and think

and pray.

God changes my heart.)

Blessed 

    are those who take refuge

    in Him.

   

                        Psalm 2. 11

(A place not to hide,

but a place of strengthening

        from which to go forth.

His blessings are far deeper

and more profound

than we can ever comprehend,

because they always impact

others as well

                  for generations

even those we do not know,

even in ways we cannot imagine.)

In the beginning

God created the heavens

                and the earth.

The earth was without form 

and void,

and darkness was upon

             the face of the deep;

and the Spirit of God

was moving over

the face of the waters.

                       Genesis 1. 1-2

(It is the new year,

standing unknown before me,

so much I cannot see,

I cannot know,

I cannot comprehend.

But God is already moving

    over the face of this deep.

God is already at work.

O LORD, 

help me to be faithful to You,

whether by streams of water

        or living like that,

bearing Your fruit

no matter where You place me.

Wilderness 

   is not a barren place in Your eyes,

only that yet to be explored

and cultivated.)

Happy new year, my friend.