Good morning, Dear Friends and Prayer Partners! This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it! Instead of sunshine and cold, this morning, we have overcast skies and a little warmer. Supposed to get up to 70 this afternoon. What a nice change that will be. My gas bill will probably be as high as the electric bill next month, because of the furnace running all the time. But I am thankful for a warm house!
In the interests of conserving gas, I did not go out anywhere yesterday, but concentrated on the inside of the house . Still trying to put Christmas away, but not making much progress, and had to wait for the Bright House tech to come and fix the new TV Daryl gave me for Christmas. Took him only five minutes to put a new cable on it. (The technie, not Daryl). He certainly was not "Mr. Personality", but he knew his job. I did get outside to pick up the twigs and stuff from the trees. Spoke to my down the street neighbor, Mr Soon, who I think is from Cambodia. He is walking twice a day as he recovers from a serious heart attack early this year. He is very nice, but difficult for me to understand. He always goes to meet his grandchildren after school, and is really concerned that I live alone. He told me to call him anytime, but I don't know his number and am not really sure of his name. It was really thoughtful of him to offer, though.
God is good!
I have sent this only once before, but since this was sent me by a friend, as his end of the year message to his co-workers in 2003, It seems very appropriate at this time;
Haggai 1:5-11 NIV
Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."
This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored." says the Lord. "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the Lord Almighty, "because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle and on the labor of your hands."
Quote from the friend who sent this..."God's Word is full of promises for his children, but there can be conditional clauses. We can make the mistake to read a portion of His Word that we want to lay claim to, only to miss out on His blessings because of our self-centeredness.
The words of Haggai are a warning as well as a blessing. We need to focus on the author of our faith and less on our own selfish ways. When we are able to focus our worship on HIM and on HIS plan for our lives, then the "details" of our lives get sorted out according to HIS will.
I always give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers with thanksgiving, joy and love!
Love and hugs,
Amaryllis
