Yes, You Will Suffer...

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 English Standard Version (ESV)

8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

Isaiah 43:6-7 English Standard Version (ESV)

6 I will say to the north, Give up,

    and to the south, Do not withhold;

bring my sons from afar

    and my daughters from the end of the earth,

7 everyone who is called by my name,

    whom I created for my glory,

    whom I formed and made.”

...But there is yet a reason to hope for everyone who is called by His name.  

So call me Christian, a daughter of God, redeemed by the Son, created for Glory.  

Hymn - Brooke Fraser 

A Mother's Hope

I'm still thoroughly enjoying the young man, who doesn't want to be blogged about, while he is home from college.  I love listening to his hopes and dreams for the future as well as his present joys and concerns.  I know his plans will take him far from home, but I still have hope, a mother's hope that he will return often and even bring grandchildren.  I'll borrow from that hymn: grace has brought him safe thus far and grace will bring him home.  

Blessed Be Your Name

Romans 12:12New King James Version (NKJV)
12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;

Blessed Be Your Name

God's New Creation

2 Corinthians 5:17

New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

17 Anyone who believes in Christ is a new creation. The old is gone! The new has come!

Jeremiah 29:11

New Living Translation (NLT)

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Lamentations 3:22-24

New Living Translation (NLT)

22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends![a]

    His mercies never cease.

23 Great is his faithfulness;

    his mercies begin afresh each morning.

24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;

    therefore, I will hope in him!”

Ecclesiastes 3:11

New Living Translation (NLT)

11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

We've now lived an entire year in this house of the level path and I remain grateful. I don't know what 2014 will bring, I don't know what tomorrow will bring, for that matter: but I do know my God of yesterday and today is the same God of tomorrow.  Sometimes not knowing the future is liberating but it can also be scary.  I have to remind myself that God can be trusted with all that I am and all that I hold dear, and I pray that I will be as brave as God asks me to be. 

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow ~ Susan Cox & Alison Krauss ~ Lyrics

Super Bowl Ramblings

Soon and very soon this football season will be over.  We're in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl and almost out of chip dip.   I am so glad and thankful.   It gives me hope that other chains in life will be broken.  The sun will shine again.   The Bachelor and Bachelorette shows will be cancelled.  My hair will stop graying.  Flannel pajama pants won't be worn in public.  Gas prices will fall.  Our credit rating  after foreclosure may one day rise again.   These are just a few thoughts between football plays and my husband calling, "Watch this!"  
Through it all, God remains good.  

Enjoy The Journey - Naomi Carroll