Goodbye 2006

Yes, when you head north the temperatures take a dive and this is how our dogs chose to deal with the colder weather! They did get adapted somewhat but were glad to get back to the coast!

This being the last day of this year brought a message from Pastor Rick this morning that I found to be "just what I needed." Amazing how God works that way!

At this time of year many of us are looking at the New Year with the hopes of changing some things. The usual ones are exercise more, loose weight, stop this or that habit ... the list can go on and on. We all start off filled with enthusiasm and dedicated to "making it" this time. And then comes a few weeks later and we are discouraged because we have already fallen short of our goal. Pastor Rick gave us 3 points to think about when deciding to make changes.

1. have faith! faith fills us with anticipation, looking ahead. Faith and fear DO NOT mix, like oil and water. It's when we loose that faith that fear gives birth to doubt and doubt gives birth to failure! We must stand firm and not let the devil steal our desire, our goal. Just remember that "if God be for us, who can stand against us?"

2. stay focused! to stay focused we must hold fast to our faith. They work hand in hand. The devil will throw in distractions and in time we will forget our goal if we don't stay focused. If the devil can't make you bad - he'll make you busy! That busy can take us off focus. We are to "throw off all that hinders us and run the race"...

3. follow through! take it one step at a time. If God said it -- do it!! Each day is a clean page, a clean slate! There are no quitters in the kingdom of God!

Faith, keeping focused and following through all work together -- and spell success! Keep that in mind as you think about the changes you would like to make in the new upcoming year! It helped me and I hope it will give you some encouragement also!

Monty and I would like to wish each and every one of you a safe and blessed New Year!
With our love and thanks, Susan and Monty