Precious friend of God, receive this blessing from God’s word. 

Your Heavenly Father has great plans for you, plans he ordained as he formed you in his heart before the world was born.  May you trust in the goodness of your holy God to accomplish all that he has promised for you in the coming year.

Be blessed as you begin the New Year by lying down all the cares, concerns and trials that face you today at the feet of Jesus.  Then, may God, the source of all our hope and comfort, fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him.  May you overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom.15:13) 

Daily breathe in the fullness of God as you invite the Holy Spirit to guide you and be your wisdom and strength. May you feel truly safe as the Lord hides you and your loved ones under his wings.

Be blessed in all you do as you learn to come into alignment with God’s desires, timing and purposes. Be filled with joy as you help others to do what is right and build them up in the Lord. May all that you are bring glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ and draw others to seek him and know him better.

Never forget that you belong to a loving Father who welcomes you into his presence any time you need his mercy and grace.  Know that Jesus is always with you and will never abandon you. The Lord delights in you! You are not alone, and are completely accepted and loved. 

Be blessed in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who became one with us, so we could eternally become one with him.

December, 2019

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”   Luke 2:8,9 NLT

God is a God of order.  So, there is nothing wrong with having plans and expectations. But we must always allow for God’s interruptions.  It seems God delights in interrupting our well-laid plans sometimes!  Maybe it is because, when he does, we are forced to take our eyes off of our problems, the daily grind of life, and look up to him and receive his higher perspective and the surprise good gifts he has for us.

We are familiar with the many interruptions Joseph and Mary’s endured in their lives that God used to fulfill prophecy and bring salvation and eternal blessings to the world for untold generations.  One is recorded in the familiar passage of the Christmas story, Luke 2:1-10, in which Joseph and Mary were forced to go to Bethlehem to register, right when Mary was close to giving birth.

And then there were the shepherds, who as usual were out watching their sheep at night, when suddenly they were terrified when the angel of the Lord appeared to them.  They were expecting a quiet, normal night, when “suddenly” “a great company of heavenly hosts” appeared with the angel praising God and announcing the birth of the Savior.

God’s interruptions have the potential to eternally alter our lives.  Those shepherds’ lives were obviously changed since they immediately chose to find the Savior and be among the first to recognize and worship him. 

Maybe, like me, you have asked, “Why?” instead of asking, “How do you want me to respond, Lord?” when God interrupted your life. How prepared are you to react to God’s sudden change of plans?

As the New Year begins, expect God’s interruptions, and thank Him that he loves you so much that he chose to give you an upgrade, a promotion to a higher place, an eternal perspective, that will grow you and change your life forever. 

Pray with me: Father God, thank you that you love me so much, that you are always working in me and around me to grow me more like Jesus.  Holy Spirit, give me the desire and power to align with God’s plans and purposes when his interruptions occur.  I don’t want to miss any opportunity to grow in my knowledge and understanding, and draw closer to Jesus. It’s in my Savior’s precious name I pray. Amen.

Dear friend, be blessed with confident hope and joyful expectation as you begin the New Year. May the Holy Spirit make you sensitive to the flow of his life in and around you, so that you miss no opportunity to be lifted higher.   Amen.
Mary Sumner
December 14, 2019

“It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own.
Our qualification comes from God.”  2 Corinthians 3:5 NLT

It took my breath away when I finally understood that God only uses broken and wounded people!  All my life I had been told that someone had to be perfect and to act perfectly to be loved, valued and to belong.  But here was God turning the worldly standard I had been taught upside down.  Suddenly everyone, even I, was qualified to be used, to become a part of something bigger and of eternal value.  No one was to be discounted.

In fact, I saw that God takes our weaknesses, and as we are able to trust him, he transforms our weaknesses into our strengths.  We see that when he took a lying, conniving Jacob, and turned his stubbornness into faith, so he would be a carrier of God’s promise for future generations.  He took an impulsive Peter and turned his fervor away from self-interest into a spirit of self-sacrifice that would transform him into the leader his ragtag disciples would need to inspire them in spreading of the Gospel to the unbelieving world.  And, perhaps more importantly, notice how he transformed the meekness of a little Jewish girl named Mary into the humility, the quiet strength, needed to trust God that she would become the mother of his precious Son Jesus, who would one day become King of kings and Lord of lords.

Are you feeling too broken to be used by God?  Actually, you are in the perfect position to allow God’s “miracle glue”, his powerful compassion, to heal, restore and give you a vision for the greater things he has planned for you from eternity.  Believe this: you are valuable, you are loved and, as a believer in Jesus, you belong to a loving Father who created you to live in his presence, forever overflowing with his joy and peace. 

Surrender to Jesus that weakness he has been showing you, and allow him to transform it into a beautiful strength.  You are not broken.  In Christ you are complete, qualified, to become all that God destined you to be.

Pray with me: Holy Spirit, multiply my faith to believe that I can be powerfully used by God.  Take my weaknesses, my brokenness and faults, and fill those empty places with more of you.  Fill me today with your love, peace, patience, joy, kindness, faithfulness, and self-discipline.  Lord Jesus, I surrender all that I am to you, for you have promised to make all things beautiful in your time. Even me, Lord! Praise God! Amen.

Dear friend, be blessed as you feel yourself getting stronger, more beautiful and more peaceful as you surrender to Jesus.  Be blessed as you trust him to cause you to overflow with new life in him.   Amen.
Mary Sumner
December 3, 2019