Dear Ones,
Hope you have are having a good New Years Eve day. We just got home from Applebee’s as we got a gift card to celebrate there. Yesterday we ended up going to the lake and saw friends and had supper with Ann’s family. This morning I cleaned the apartment and made Al a hot pizza dip that he likes as he watches the games. I’m sure we will not make it up to midnight tonight! 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
 A New Year is almost here and it is a good time to reflect on what God has done in this past year and to praise Him and celebrate that. Then it is wise to move on and make room for the new things He has in store for us if we are willing to let go of the old. 
 Our friends are moving out of the split-level home they have known for 21 years, to enter into a Senior Living apartment. It is a huge process to let go of the many things that will not fit into the new apartment and they have been working on that task this past year. In January they will have to let go of the old familiar and enter into a whole new way of living and that takes a great deal of adjusting. We know about that from experience as we did the same thing almost 4 1/2 years ago. But in looking back now, I think of all the blessings we would have missed if we had not taken that step of faith.
  Each of us will experience new things in 2023 as we desire to walk closer in His presence and to know the Lord in deeper ways.  What He did in the past was wonderful, but there are always new and wondrous things awaiting us. We don’t have to worry about His provision for He will give us all that we need in abundance. His generosity exceeds ours. As the apostle Paul said in Phil. 4:19 (NRSV), “And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to the riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” We need to open our hearts and our minds and spirits and simply trust Him. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us and to point out the path we are to take each day as we walk in the light that He gives us. It says in Isaiah 30:21 that when we are open to the Spirit, we will hear a word behind us telling us the way to go, whether to the right or to the left. Let us experience and enter in to all the new He has for us in 2023, as we let go of the old.
  Challenge for today: End the year in praise for all that the Lord has done, and then enter 2023 with faith and openness to the new!
Blessings on this New Years Eve day and prayers and Love, Judy