Morning Coffee - "The future looks brighter...."

On January 1 of 2011, I wrote in my diary: “The future looks brighter than any day past.”

This was the last line of a poem written by Karin Ristau and posted on her blog, Yesterday, Today, Forever.

Serve God with your whole heart, in joy and contentment.
Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid.
You’re never alone in your journey of life.
God will not fail you! Be not dismayed.
Do not look back! Keep your eye on the goal!
Only what’s done for Christ will last!
Don’t rest on your laurels or deny your mistakes!
The future looks brighter than any day past.
Karin Ristau

Who could have possibly known what the year ahead would have in store for Jim and I yet I could not have begun the year with a better perspective given what transpired for us.  In fact when I look back at my journal entries for the months before his illness it is amazing to me what verses and phrases I chose for meditation and emphasis.  God was definitely preparing me for what was to come.

January 4^th:  “You never learn faith in comfortable surroundings.” 

January 16^th:  “O God!  Take me, break me, make me.” 

January 31^st :  “The thing I send is best for Thee.” 

May 23^rd:  “He worketh …even now.”

June 1^st:  “I entreat you, give no place to despondency.  This is a dangerous temptation – a refined, not a gross temptation of the adversary.  Melancholy contracts and withers the heart, and renders it unfit to receive the impressions of grace.  It magnifies and gives a false coloring and thus renders your burdens too heavy to bear.  God’s designs regarding you, and His methods of bringing about these designs, are infinitely wise.”  Madame Guyon

June 12^th:  “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 

June 17^th:  “You will hear a voice say, ‘This is the way; turn around and walk here.’  Trust Him.”

June 20^th:  Be still and listen.  Thy Father knowest best.  Praise Him for all he has planned.  Do not seek to get out of God’s will.  There is a purpose for being where you are.”

It was on June 20^th, our 41^st wedding anniversary, over breakfast at McDonald’s, that Jim confided to me that he had not been feeling well.  We immediately scheduled a Doctor’s appointment and thus began our final journey together.  And I believe we traveled it well together having been so decidedly prepared. 

Today begins another year.  And again, no one can possible know what lies ahead. But I do know that if I stay close to God He will prepare me for whatever plans He has.  He has promised that.  And He does keep His promises.

My entry for today, my first of 2012, begins, “Momento Vivere”  Remember to live!

Happy New Year!

Sandy

(Note - Being journal entries I don't always reference my quotes - but most are probably from Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Chas Cowman - a favorite devotional of mine.)