January 2018 Partner Letter

 

Dear Partner,

“This is what God says, …Forget about what’s happened;  don’t keep going over old history.  Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out!  Don’t you see it? …”When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.  When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.  When you’re between a rock and a hard place,  it won’t be a dead end.  ”  (Isa. 43:18b-19, 2) message.

“Forget it”.  Such a simple phrase.  There is a lot of teaching and information on different “tricks” to help people remember things.  However,  the Bible makes it clear that there is also great value and importance in learning how to forget.  Because unless you learn to forget, you won’t be able to move forward to a new beginning.   It will stop you from fulfilling God’s plan for your life because all of your vision and strength will be consumed by what has happened in the past, leaving little energy and vision for the task at hand.  Although they are in the past, those events can affect – and even determine – your future.  They will keep you from a “new beginning“.

I recently read the following that tells how not to live a life full of new beginnings.   Or – how not to forget:

‘Don’t forget the smallest offense or slight. Keep score of all wrongs done to you. Be sure to remember each petty statement made about you in the past. Cultivate your garden of grievance each day. Take a few minutes before you get out of bed each morning to recite to yourself the names of the people who have offended you and the nature of their offenses. When you are driving alone in your automobile, use that block of time to recall the names of your enemies and to make preliminary plans for getting even with each of them. Paste the record of your ruffled feelings in your private book of remembrance. Save up grudges and collect grievances like a stamp or coin collector. Display them to others with pride! You will soon learn how easily grievance collecting can become a lifetime hobby that will blend into your total lifestyle. Soon you will find that spare time is not enough time for grievance collecting, and you will look forward to retirement so you can give your complete time to such a demanding hobby. The most lasting value of cultivating the art of grievance collecting is that, if you are persistent and undeterred, you will get a more accurate preview of hell than could be acquired in any other way. And hell is that happy hunting ground to which all master-grievance collectors go, where they can display their collections forever to those who will appreciate them.’

Glory!  As God’s new creation, the new year is a year full of the promise of new beginnings!  As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

What hope we have because we are God’s redeemed!  We love you and together, we are expecting great things from our great and mighty God.  Happy New Year, dear friends!

Forever Grateful,

Cindy, Lois and Ray