Living By Faith

Each year  in December I come up with a list of goals for the coming year:  lose weight. Exercise more. Finish the book I've been writing (off more than on) the last umpteen years. Read the bible through in a year. This past  December was no different, the goals are all still there. Except for one. This year my goal isn't to read the bible through in a year. In the many (dmany!) years I've set that one up, I've failed every single time. So no. Not going to be a goal this year. Did I give up on that?  No. This year, however, I have a new insight. This year, I'm focusing on studying the New Testament.  I began on January 2 (the first I was finishing up a study from December) and while I thought at first I would be going at a faster rate, I'm currently in the middle of Matthew chapter 15. But you know what?  I'm okay with that. I don't want to zoom through the Word just to say I've done it and can move on. I want to take my time and chew on  small bit...

How does one begin to tell a story that is neither flattering nor pretty?  Suffice it to say 2017 was not a very good year for my family.  First my husband had much needed gall bladder surgery after 18 months of on and off problems with it. Then my turn for surgery came shortly afterward. Then, with healing, taking care of family members and some unwise choices, we lost the home we had hoped to buy.  Some of the cause was just plain bad luck due to circumstances but a lot of it was our fault. My fault.  What happened and why does not matter. It's over and done with, although we are still dealing with some of it. This blog post is simply meant to acknowledge this period of learning and move on from  there. Along with the bad that happened in  2017, good happened as well.  Although due to location we are no longer able to worship with the congregation from our old home, we have found a loving church family here. We are still getting to know everyone in...