HOLINESS

I read this post on a blog that I follow this morning. It was such an encouragement to me that I wanted to pass it on. So with permission of the blogger for lifeinskunkhollow.blogspot.com (thanks Julie) I am passing this on. My prayer is that it encourages you in your walk with our Lord.

Holiness

"I learned early on that to be "set apart" is not a punishment; it is not an attempt on God's part to deprive us or to condemn us to a cheerless, joyless lifestyle. It is a priceless privilege - it is a call

* to belong, to be cherished, to enter into an intimate love relationship with God Himself, much as a groom declares his intent to set his bride apart from all other women to be his beloved wife

* to fit into the grand, eternal plan of our redeeming God for this universe

* to experience the exquisite joys and purposes for which we were created

* to be freed from all that destroys our true happiness."

". . . Sooner or later, sin will strip and rob you of everything that is truly beautiful and desirable. If you are a child of God, you were redeemed to enjoy the sweet fruit of holiness - to walk in oneness with your heavenly Father, to relish His presence, to rejoice in His mercy, to know the joy of having clean hands, a pure heart, and a clear conscience, and one day, to stand before Him unashamed. Why settle for anything less?"

-- Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Holiness - The Heart God Purifies

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A New Year!  As I was meditating on the New Year yesterday I had this thought.  The Lord is eternal, yet He gave us time.  Each moment can be new.........a new second, a new minute, a new hour, a new day, and a new year.  It reminded me of what the Lord says heaven will be like....everything will be as new and as a person that is born again the scripture says " all things are become as new".  I wonder if God in His grace and mercy gave us the opportunity to take time to evaluate and put the "old" things away and begin the new?  Whatever it may be it is a blessing and we can bask in God's goodness to us for His mercies are "new" every morning!  We truly have a wonderful Savior!