Never been this way before..New territory...new country...

So 2009 has started...we are only into the 3 rd day...and I wonder at all that I will see over the next 12 months...it will be new...a new territory for me...new chapters in my life...new adventures...new challenges...new celebrations.. new relationships.. new hurts and new healings....and new wisdom.....sometimes facing new things is daunting. We do not know what tomorrow will bring...but I know the One who does. This morning I read my friend Amanda's blog.... http://toccandoilcielo.blogspot.com/ and was inspired..I loved her resolve on who she is...who she will be and who she will trust! I agree with her on the things she wrote...and I am resolved to not only support and encourage her...but to make some of her own resolutions my own...who God has brought to me much of the same insights He has brought her...the same books...the same hopes and the same reassurances....

So this morning as I read in my devotional Streams in the Desert...I am touched by the awesome reminder of who my God is...and what He will do...

January 3
I will move along slowly at the pace of the droves before me and that of the children. ( Genesis 33: 14)
What a beautiful picture of Jacob's thougthfulness for the cattle and the children! He would not allow them to be driven too hard for even one day. He would not lead them at a pace equal to what a strong man like Esau could keep or expected them to keep, but only as fast as they were able to endure. He knew exactly how far they could go in a day; and he made that his only consideration in planning their travel. He had taken the same wilderness journey years before and knew from personal experiences its roughness, heat and distance. And so he said, "I will move along slowly," "Since you have never been this way before"(Josh 3:4)We "have never been this way before," but the Lord Jesus has. It is all untraveled and unknown ground to us, but He knows it all through personal experience. He knows the steep places that take our breath away, the rocky plans that make our feet ache, the hot and shadeless stretches that bring us to exhaustion, and the rushing rivers that we have to cross---- Jesus has gone through it all before us. As John 4:6 shows, "Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down." He was battered by every possible torrent, but all the flood waters coming against Him never quenched His love. Jesus was made a perfect leader by the things He suffered. " HE knows ow we are formed, he remembers that we are dust."( Ps. 103:14) Think of that when you are tempted to question the gentleness of His leading. He remembers all the time and will never make you take even one step beyond what your feet are able to endure. Never mind if you think you are unable to take another step, for either He will strengthen you to make you able or He will call a sudden halt, and you will not have to take it at all.Frances Ridley Havergal writes:In pastures green? Not always; sometimes He who knowest best, in kindness leadeth me In weary ways, where heavy shadows be.So, whether on the hilltops high and fair I dwell, or in the sunless valleys, where the shadows lie,what matter? He is there.

So here I am in a new year...new territory in my life...and I am happy for I know my God is with me...and will lead me always...no matter what ends...what begins or what continues....


Suggested reads for any of you looking for a good book....
Safe People by Dr Henry Cloud
Boundaries by Dr Henry Cloud
Boundaries in Dating by Dr Henry Cloud ( if you are or want to date)
Breaking Intimidation by John Bevere (if you struggle with fear and insecurities in areas of your life..we all do!)
Fight Like a Girl by Lisa Bevere ( for women who want to be the woman God created us to be)The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman ( everyone should read this!)
The Five Languages of Apology by Gary Chapman ( don't miss this book!)
Any book by Michelle McKinney Hammond (if you are a woman...read her books...be the woman God created and called you to be!)
and if you are dating...He's Just Not that into You..by Greg Behrendt ( not a christian book..but really a truthful look at men and dating...by a man who used to be...Not That Into You! )
These are just to name a few of the books I have read or are reading...
So onward into the new territory!!!
Lead on oh King Eternal!
Lorrie