We got back safely on Wednesday and were glad to be where it is warm although, we are having quite cool weather. Cloudy overcast skies prevent the sun from heating everything up which makes for nice sleeping weather but terrible when it comes to showering. Nancy is translating for a dental team up in the mountains of Jeremie, and we know she's very cold. If it's cool in the valley, it's cold on the mountain tops.
I sometimes wonder about new years beginning and the way we approach them, for they are simply a continuation of what has been, but we are well programmed into looking excitedly to a new year. The Word says God's mercies are new every morning, I wonder why we think there will be more mercy or grace or blessing in a new year than there would be each new day?
And speaking of today, I'll be busy organizing things so that we can function in full schedules coming up. Gary wonders why I change things around but it's not really such a mystery. I'm not an organizer so I do put things in places and as I live with them a while, a new idea or better way comes to mind, so it must be changed. If I had a brain that wasn't so scattered I could do it all at once the first time. Yes, scattered is the word but this is a new year and I'm working to bring the scattering under control. So, in that quest, there is some moving of furniture that will occur today. Gary doesn't know what my request will be today, but you can pray he will be blessed when he hears what I have planned for this Saturday, and that he doesn't have other plans. (Life really is not too different in Haiti as it is in any household in North America….women always manage a job or two that only their husband can do on their day off).
Reading today in 1 Timothy, is some sound advice for today and if we meditate on it until it becomes a part of us it can be our guide through this year which has promise and also mystery because we know only today, we know only right now. Tomorrow is in the hands of the Lord.
Cling tightly to your faith in Christ and always keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their conscience; as a result their faith has been shipwrecked. 1Tim1: 18,19
The purpose for my instruction is that all the Christians would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience and a sincere faith.(vs5)
And then the instruction to teachers which all of us need to heed in 1Tim 1:7-11: Some teachers who want to be known as teachers of the law of Moses are confident but don't know what they are talking about. Laws are for the disobedient and rebellious, ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred, defile what is holy, murder their father and mother, are sexually immoral, homosexuals, slave traders, liars, oath breakers, and anything that contradicts right teaching, that comes from the Glorious Good News.
Father, I pray that we who teach your Word would always be mindful of our conscience, making sure it's clear and that our hearts are pure and our faith is sincere. May we always teach the Glorious Good News. Thank you for a conscience that will always remind us when we go astray and for the promise of forgiveness when we confess sin quickly and repent of it. May we always be sincere in our faith and may we believe your Word absolutely, in Jesus name.
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