"If this is to be a Happy New Year, a year of usefulness, a year in which we shall live to make this earth better, it is because God will direct our pathway. How important then, to feel our dependence upon Him!" 
- Matthew Simpson

"I guide you in the way of wisdom 
And lead you along straight paths. 
When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; 
When you run, you will not stumble. 
Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; 
Guard it well, for it is your life. 
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, 
Shining ever brighter till the full light of day." 
Proverbs 4:11-13;18 (NIV)

Sometimes God brings a change or a challenge into our lives to shake up our dependence upon self and turn us back to dependence upon him. We are closest to finding his will for our lives, our happiness and usefulness, when we are completely in the dark waiting for that first gleam of dawn, depending fully on him to cause the sun to rise.

"Life has to be lived forwards but it can only be understood backwards." 
- Søren Kierkegaard

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart 
And lean not on your own understanding; 
In all your ways acknowledge him, 
And he will make your paths straight." 
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

"Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?" Job 12:12 (NIV)

If we could walk backwards through life, so many times of doubt and questioning would be erased from our path. But sadly, we would have missed those desperate moments of trusting in the Lord, and clinging to him for guidance.

Look not back on yesterday 
So full of failure and regret; 
Look ahead and seek God's way-- 
All sin confessed you must forget. 
- Dennis DeHaan

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)

"As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Psalm 103:12 (NIV)

As we come to the end of the year, so often we look back with regret on things we did not accomplish or resolutions long forgotten. But sin is one thing we should never need to look back on with feelings of failure. If we have confessed our sins and asked God's forgiveness, we simply need to keep a forward focus toward the goal of pleasing Christ.

"There is no improving the future without disturbing the present." - Catherine Booth

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)

If our present day situation disturbs us, perhaps there's something beyond our natural sight in the works--something not yet accomplished. The trouble we face today may be achieving an eternal purpose so much better than we can imagine. Remember that what we see right now is only temporary. What is most important, though we may not yet be able to see it, is eternal.

So remember while December 
Brings the only Christmas day, 
In the year let there be Christmas 
In the things you do and say. 
- Anonymous

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14 (NIV)

The words we speak are reflections of our thoughts and meditations. These God-pleasing thoughts and words become pleasing in his sight because they will motivate us to Christ-like actions--actions that are seen and not just heard. Are your thoughts and words pleasing to the Lord every day and not just at Christmas or on Sunday mornings? Do you keep the spirit of Christmas alive in your heart all throughout the year?

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing; 
It makes no noise at all, 
But softly gives itself away; 
While quite unselfish, it grows small. 
- Eva K. Logue


John the Baptist said of Jesus: "He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less." John 3:30 (NLT)

We are like candles that hold a flame, burning strong and bright the light of Christ. We softly give ourselves away, worshiping him and serving him, that we might become less and less, and that he might become greater and brighter through us.

"There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child." 
- Erma Bombeck

"He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: 'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'" Matthew 18:2-4 (NIV)

Is there anything more exciting than being a child on Christmas morning? And yet this is what God asks of us each day, to change and become like little children. Not just on Christmas, but each day approaching God the Father as a child, with excited anticipation of his goodness, humbly trusting him that every need will be met and every care will be under his control.

"I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the word seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses." 
- Taylor Caldwell

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39 (NIV)

When you feel the most alone, it may be the very moment when you are truly least alone at all. God is there in your darkest night and coldest wind. He may be so close you cannot see him, but he is there. And perhaps he has chosen this moment to pull you closer to him than you have ever been before.

Somehow, not only for Christmas, 
But all the long year through, 
The joy that you give to others, 
Is the joy that comes back to you. 
And the more you spend in blessing, 
The poor and lonely and sad, 
The more of your heart's possessing, 
Returns to you glad. 
- John Greenleaf Whittier

"If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving--large or small--it will be used to measure what is given back to you." Luke 6:38 (NLT)
Make Room for More
We have heard people say, "You can't out-give God." Well, you can't out-give yourself either! You don't need to be wealthy to possess a giving heart. Give a smile, lend an ear, extend a hand. However you give, God's promise is tried and tested, and you'll see the blessings multiplied and returned back to you.

"When God intends to make something wonderful he begins with a difficulty. When he intends to make something very wonderful, he begins with an impossibility." 
- Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Coggan

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)

Wonderful ImpossibilitiesThe birth of Jesus was not just a difficulty, it was an impossiblity. Mary was a virgin. Only God could breath life into her womb. And just as God caused her to conceive the perfect sinless Savior--fully God, fully human--he can accomplish through you, those things that seem impossible in your life.