Mother’s Day is a beautiful day set aside to honor some of the greatest women among us. This day takes time to give praise and thanks for the ladies who gave us life and love. The celebration of the women who sacrificed more than any child will ever know. The moment we slow down, pause and appreciate. This day brings so many thoughts and emotions. What I have learned in my thirty-seven years of life is that not all moments that should make you feel good, makes you feel good. Life is very difficult. Life brings about pain and challenges every day that we have the choice on how we will respond to them. Life’s twists and turns can drive us closer to bitterness by default – but what makes humanity interesting is when bitterness turns to joy.

One of my favorite passages of scripture is Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,^[a]
 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of his splendor.

This passage reminds me of what Jesus quoted as His mission on this earth and honestly, what every Christian’s mission is: to proclaim good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim free for the captives, to give a crown of beauty instead of ashes… Days like Mother’s Day should be a great time of reflection – and every moment pondered with the eyes of grace. The Lord designed mothers to play a role that only they can, however, in life it is often that others are chosen to play different parts in different lives for such a time as this. Mothers are naturally designed to provide nourishment, safety, comfort and warmth. Mothers are designed to be the biggest cheerleader for their young. Mothers create gladness and calmness. Mothers bring peace, in the Name of Jesus. When a mother is missing – the Void is great. At any age.

I am beyond blessed to still have my darling mother walking this life with me. I am incredible blessed to have my most outstanding mother-in-love navigating this journey with me. I have been richly blessed to have a sister 17 years older than me that pretended to be my mother my entire life, until she was radically taken from us (in our opinion too quickly) in August 2020 due to covid. The Void she left is great. The Void she created is massive. The Void here takes 500,000 other women to even begin to fill. The Void of precious mothers gone before us feels great – too great to bear. But we as women must consider who we might be a “void-filler” for? Who has God asked us to be a “void-filler” for? Consider on this day to be one that delivers crowns of beauty instead of ashes. Consider on this day who you can assist in binding up or proclaiming good news to? Consider on this day who might need freedom – freedom from pain, from hurt, from past mistakes or from life? Be a “void-filler” to the woman desiring to birth her own. Be a “void-filler” for the lady needing to hear her hair looks amazing or her outfit is right off of the runway. Be a “void-filler” for the mother who needs to hear she is doing a GREAT JOB! Be a Ms. Shirly who reminded me last week that it is perfectly fine for my son to do puppet motions in front of the entire church as an act of worship. Be a “void-filler” with laughter and love today.

Clifton Haley, the unsuspectingly talented artist tasked with the challenge of capturing earth’s most inspirational creation.  A gentle soul, battle weary.  One who is often frozen with fear of the unknown and overwhelmingly concerned with the realities of potential failures.  A man.  A husband.  A father.   A son.  A brother.  An uncle.  A worldwide photographer walking in the freedom of limitless independence.

A man born in Nashville, Tennessee.  A city full of dreamers and those in massive pursuits to be more and experience the greatest forms of themselves and their trade.  The beginnings of every story are crucial.  Knowing the first days, the first surroundings set the pace for every day and every moment that follows.  Our journeys are what make us the people we are today.  Our difficulties and our successes define the DNA of who we are and the pieces that have created our outlooks and perspectives on life.

At the age of ten, Clifton faced his first major battle – a mother diagnosed with cancer.  His mother has always been the source of his greatest encouragement and hope.  She exhibits all the characteristics of a true hero, choosing the salvation of others above all her basic needs.  She has been a constant source of firming foundations and development of greater hopes.  It was on one of the many walks at Radnor Lake, that Clifton took his first photo, of course at the urging of his mother.  At the age of eleven, passion was born.  Anything in its infancy needs nourishment and growth.  Anything in its infancy needs development and testing.  Anything in its infancy requires fuel and light.  Clifton’s photography aspiration was in its infancy form at best. 

Dreaming is not something that comes naturally for Clifton.  And this is why he has been sovereignly surrounded by those full of dreams – first with his mother, next with his wife.  All through the years, others have been his source of inspiration as to what he had the ability to achieve.  As one who has grown up in church with the Bible as the source of all truth and direction, the dreamers in scripture always created a curiosity in his soul.  In many instances he would be fascinated by those prophets of old who would see things in dreams and visions and then watch them unfold before their eyes.  With Clifton’s first breath he was born into the 7^th position of being a Joel.  Clifton Joel Haley.  Joel, the biblical prophet, spoke to the ability of dreaming dreams and seeing visions – which is where the irony is, as dreaming is not easy for Clifton.  The desires of his heart have always been to be financially secure and the confident leader of his home.  Being financially secure continually forced his hand even further away from his dreams. 

Not long after marriage, Clifton bought his first DSLR in 2007, a Sony A100.  His declared profession was architecture and design with his degree placing him behind a desk drafting buildings at their foundational levels in black and white.  In his evenings and weekends, he focused on capturing families for their annual Christmas card photographs.  For three years, his life was defined by the brand Clifton Fotos.  He developed a logo, website and began to pursue more in his photography talents and aspirations.  In 2010, he had the incredible opportunity to join the world’s largest school portrait photography company, Lifetouch – which is now owned by Shutterfly.  Which also led him to upgrade to the Nikon D300S and the photography journey expanded in ways he never dreamed.  He quickly was placed in a management role which extended his work hours even more.  In 2012, he started following Serge Ramelli online.  These sessions allowed Clifton to grow his talents in his own time – late at night with his computer.  He followed religiously and immediately executed the “how to’s” into his images.  He travelled many places on mission trips to capture the moments of the team loving people all around the world from Scotland, Nicaragua, Israel, Romania, Indonesia and Hungary.  His gallery grew, his talent grew – but his finances slowly trickled upward.

In 2013, the long-awaited heart desire happened, and Clifton’s wife was expecting their first child.  This child would radically change everything about Clifton’s dreams – financial-stability peace of mind ruled out and controlled all his decisions for many years after.  He left his photography position and began working a 9-5 job in the banking industry which brought benefits that his family desperately needed due to his daughter’s medical needs.  Two and a half years later, their son joined in an unexpected-surprise adoption.  Clifton was amid growing in manhood, fatherhood and a family with his wife.  A season when the dream of full-time photography was only a glimmer.  A faint light getting smaller and smaller over time and nearly was blown out.  And this mode continued until 2020 – when the world shut down.  At the end of 2019, Clifton had decided in his heart to take a leap of faith and begin a full-time photography career.  But he delayed.

In March 2020, Clifton was bound for another trip with his Pastor to Israel to experience the Christian pilgrimage once again.  However, this year – it was cancelled the week before departure.  And his flight headed in a different direction.  While the world shut down, Clifton and his mother took off to Arizona and Utah for his first official photography trip.  They diligently traversed 1800 miles of America’s most beautiful sceneries including getting the rental car stuck in a salt flat.  These moments with his mother allowed him to capture creation in its truest form.  These images built his gallery in a new way – raw transparency of beauty.  His passion was reignited.  His heart’s desire was reinforced.  And he boarded a plane wanting more.  But instead of pursuing it full time, he delayed. 

His delay cost him his photography time, slowed his talent, broke his sanity, and forced his family into a holding pattern of a man wandering.  His wife never lost hope.  His mother never lost hope.  Clifton lost hope.  He chose destructive decisions instead of walking in the freedoms of his talent and dream.  He chose to be bound by a world where he didn’t have the freedoms of schedule, time and money.  Clifton chose to let his dream be squashed and nearly destroyed.  And then the summer of 2022 came.  And hope reignited.  After dealing with the loss of two years of career work and purpose, he finally surrendered.  He took time off from all things that consumed his life and rebuilt a foundation.  He and his wife developed a business plan.  And in perfect, providential timing, an email invitation arrived.  Serge Ramelli invited him to join his Inner Circle.  And after his wife shouted with excitement for him to “DO IT!” he surrendered once again.  He became the first member of the Serge’s first Inner Circle.  And his dreams of photography took a real, live, tangible form.  This one step radically transformed his finances, his talents, his confidence, and his future.  This one step was a pivotal point.  A marker of sorts.  A clear, precise sign of what was coming next.  His dream and his purpose realized.

Life can be challenging, and starting a business aligned with your dream even more so. Along the way, Clifton has been distracted, but never lost sight that God exalts who He exalts. God is always with you and that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Take time today to know your core and find the truth.

If you haven’t made time to watch the free series called The Chosen, make the time.

If you are a Christian – this series is a beautiful depiction of Jesus and his people in the early days of ministry. It brings color to scripture. It shows the character of Jesus and the character of God. Sure, the religious will scream about it not being 100% scripture but guess what – it will definitely draw you closer to the Bible and the Lord by encouraging you to look at scripture in a brighter and powerful way. This series does no harm to scripture. This series brings it to life for a world that has given up on the hope of Jesus and hope at all. As a Christian, the stories of each of his disciples resonate in so much of who I am. I have always connected to the passion of Peter (not the good way), but in season three – The Chosen, through the story of Jesus and Simon Peter, my world was wildly interrupted.

If you are not a Christian – this series will show you what the LOVE of Christ and LOVE of God is supposed to look like. From time to time, the true and sacrificial love, that is only a reflection of the Holy Spirit at work in a soul, will make it’s way onto earth through a true disciple of Christ. When you experience it, you see and feel the difference – but I find it to be rare. This series depicts the truth of Who Christ is and the real failures and reality of His disciples. So many times, they miss it – as do we. So many times they fail the lost world around them – as do we. This shows the greatness of God and the failures of man.

All throughout my Christian journey, The Lord has used various things to speak to my soul in the most unexpected ways. Yesterday, He did it again. Yesterday, He used The Chosen.

I definitely don’t want to give it away, if you haven’t seen it yet – which, my guess is, there is a great chance you haven’t. However, even though The Chosen doesn’t speak in chronological scripture order – it does weave together the stories of The Gospel in a way that it “could have” happened. The sequence of events leading up to Peter clinging to Jesus and begging him to not let him go – walked him through a very angry season. Have you ever been angry with God? Have you ever said the words, “why was I out helping others while my family was taken from me over and over again?” Have you ever questioned why your life has been more difficult since becoming a Christian and wondered if there was ever a way to stop the pain? Or if you have been abandoned? Or if God is done with you?

Yahweh is big enough to handle ALL of your questions and ALL of your anger. The Hebrew God, Father of Jesus, The Creator is big enough to surround you, hold you and carry you through it all. He wants your anger and your very loudly asked questions. He wants your pain – as He is always at work. And we may never know on this side of Heaven the reason for all of the suffering, but what we do know is that we are more aligned with Him when we do. He only wants our faith.

I have never been more thankful that we began watching this series as a family. Our nine-year-old has loved every minute of it and our six-year-old has loved most of it. I don’t regret watching it together at all. There is only one episode that they missed and that was because my husband and I had to put them to bed but couldn’t stop watching – and it just so happened that was the one-episode parental discretion was advised. I consider it a blessing to have anointed people and companies in the world working to use their gifts in promoting the Gospel of Jesus.

Church, be full of the Gospel today. Church, surrender and submit today. Church, walk in the fullness of freedom He has given us. Church, be light in the darkness today. And for goodness sakes, everyone watch and support The Chosen. #bingeJesus #fishandloaves

Says the Queen of Hearts again about another person who has cause her great pain. In the epic children’s story of Alice and Wonderland, we see the timeliness message of good versus evil. Nearly every time the world doesn’t go the way of the passionate Queen of Heart’s plans, she shouts in a command, “Off with their head!” While we understand this is not a great response to difficulties in life, I wonder if there isn’t some type of truth we can pull from it?

I was taken back to the historical and biblical account of David and Goliath. As found in 1 Samuel 17, we read about this enemy of God’s people who wished to enslave them. And their champion in the cause….

The had Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. 8He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 10And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Their champion set the rules for engagement. Their champion was one to be intimated by. Their champion was an experienced warrior who feared very little. Their champion was unbeatable in their eyes and the Israelites surrendered to what they saw with their physical eyes instead of what they knew of their God. Time and time again, the Israelites had experienced miracle after miracle and victory of their enemies, but this enemy seemed to big. And for forty days, they were paralyzed with fear while the enemy taunted them – day in and day out.

We all know that David heard this taunting and called it out for what it was. He was young and “ignorant” in the eyes of the Israelites. He was inexperienced in life and battle – however, he knew who his God was and what He had done in the past. David had been with the Lord and saw an enemy whom the Lord could easily beat. And responded with reckless abandonment in the face of all potential fears. Fear is silent in the presence of faith.

And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” 45Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

48When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. 51Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

This encounter with God came into my life in a moment when I was being constantly taunted by the enemy with lies about myself, my family, my future and my faith. As I read this, I had also been watching Alice and Wonderland with my kiddos for the very first time. And then I heard the Lord speak – “off with his head!” David didn’t hesitate to cut off the head of the enemy as he spoke the viscous lies over the people of God. And once the head was cut off, the enemy complete fled. My new challenge for each day, each moment is to cut off the head of the enemy in my own soul – speaking it into existence.

Through out my journey, the song “Oceans” by Hillsong has became an anthem for me. It is a message of truth and reminders mixed with powerful ballads that ring a true battle cry. The lyrics are…

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Saviour

While I’ve sang this song for many years, each crisis and moment in this journey reminds me of the lyrics I have prayed over myself. When I analyze the phrase “trust is without borders” leads me to that moment of David or maybe just the moment of the Israelites. They had never faced a giant like this before who taunted them so openly and so boldly. The Lord was building another faith foundation stone within them as His people, but they were too afraid to follow. It took the faith of one man to teach an entire army how God moves the borders of faith and what can be done. “Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander” is a loaded statement. We don’t choose things that are difficult in life, we run from them and even plan ways to prevent them. It was the Holy Spirit who moved Jesus into the wilderness to be tested, why do we think God would do any less for us? Becoming deeper in a relationship with him, means we experience things and life that we never planned on. It means truly trusting Him and His character in every moment. It means resting in the fact that He is God and His plans are always for our good.

I heard this statement once and it rings even more true here, “the greatest spiritual crisis comes when a person has to move a little farther on in his faith than the beliefs he has already accepted.” I dare say, I have lived my fair share of spiritual crisis. I dare say my beliefs have been challenged more than once. I claim Victory in the Grace of Jesus, but understand there have been more than one occasion that I have questioned and even yelled at the One I claim to love and serve. Life is difficult. It always has been, but as you get older you have to determine how you choose to look at those difficulties.

Will you choose foundational faith stones or will you choose to allow the enemy of our souls to create bitterness that takes root and bears fruit?

And as my favorite Dowager Countess of Grantham says, “That’s life isn’t it? Getting past the unexpected and perhaps learning from it.”

5,840 days. 16 years. Every person experiences a life full of something. We as humans have the tendency to view others around us as “better” or “easier” or “prettier” or “fill in the blank”. Rarely do we see situations or people as the reality that actually exists. Even more rare, is when we see ourselves with the eyes that the Lord sees us with, the true reality of who we are. More times than not, we capture this idea of what we are by what others speak over us – and knowing how little we each really understand or know about each other- think about how dangerous this very act is. Grace is very uncommon in our society. Forgiveness, patience and kindness are disappearing at a faster rate than anyone could have ever expected.

This past week, I experienced my two favorite days of the entire year – Christmas and my 16th wedding anniversary. There is a reason that these two days are so closely together and that I have a full month of celebrations and memories to reflect and feel. As I prepared for Christmas, my goal this year was to make sure that I wasn’t running wild trying to check off my to do list. This year, I wanted items purchased and wrapped well in advance. I wanted to sit and embrace the lights of the tree with the to do list completed. I wanted to celebrate and truly experience the season of lights with joy, peace and patience. I was reminded of a song, “Is there any wonder?” by Travis Cottrell that my church praise team sang many years ago.

“Is there any wonder? That this night is filled with miracles and mystery and unrelenting splendor. Is there any wonder? That the skies are live with angels shouting “Glorious, today you have a Saviour!” A throne was bare, while glory fills the manger with God with us is like a stranger here. Do we fall on our knees and thank God for so much mercy? Fall on our knees and cry out, we are so unworthy? Fall on our knees to the sound of ‘Holy Holy,’ until it shakes our souls like thunder… is there any wonder? Is there any wonder? While the baby sleeps there is a hill not far away where His life will be offered. Is there any wonder? Even now the tree that one day would become his cross grows just like any other. A child is born, and the world is changed forever behold the Lamb, the Lamb that sinners slain. Do we fall on our knees and thank God for so much mercy? Fall on our knees and cry out, we are so unworthy? Fall on our knees to the sound of ‘Holy Holy,’ until it shakes our souls like thunder… is there any wonder? We hear the stories, we sing the songs… but is there any wonder left in us at all?”

I adore this song. It is full of questions probing my thoughts, my beliefs, my foundations about this amazing Saviour, the unparalleled God and unmatchable Spirit that created a way for us to belong. The Lord God that crossed all of the course of time, from Creator to creation. To redemption in the only way that it could have been received – sacrificing all for me. I don’t begin to state that I understand – in fact, I think the more we learn about God, the more we realize we know very little. The more He reveals to us in relationship and fellowship with Him, the more faith we need and build in walking every day. I pray each Christmas, my wonderment increases. My sense of joy of the Father and fellowship grows in new and deeper ways. Which, as we face trials and pain, I have found, the depth of your fellowship takes new shape and new form. No longer do you walk in every day natural joy and purpose, but we must choose it. We must take account and inventory if we are going to choose life in our living.

I love more than anything that I had a Christmas wedding. Yes, we sang “Oh, Holy Night” and “Tender Tennessee Christmas” was played. Oh and we cannot forget that my precious niece sang “Silent Night” in German. It was a candlelit moment in time, in which one sweet lady said it was the “most beautiful wedding she had ever experienced” and “experienced” is the word I was desiring. Not just another wedding ceremony that people watch awkwardly, but truly experienced and felt. And may we not forget the fact that I am the most amazing Christmas gift Clif could have ever received… haha. I love this because our Covenant ceremony is placed perfectly between remembering The Birth that defines us and changes us AND the start of a new year. The launch point of Christ’s birth is our foundation. Without this foundation, we are two souls destined for loss and despair. Without this foundation, we are not able to do the incomprehensible – two sinful, selfish humans coming together in unity to become one being in physical, emotional and spiritual wholeness. Sixteen years into this journey, we are still learning what this means. We were reflecting with each other about the years we have been together and came to realize that we had been married 5,840 days. Being that we LOVE studying numbers in scripture we quickly realized that our years together are definitely defined by the numbers here – 5 equals ‘grace’ in scripture; 8 equals ‘new beginnings’ and 40 equals ‘tribulation’. There are not any better words to describe our short time together.

Every year of our marriage, we can give real life examples of the tribulations we have faced. Sure, we post great photos on social media that show the highs, but those highs are captured in the “in between” times. Our first two years of marriage are indelibly marked by us watching Clif’s father die from stage four colon cancer. The next three years were defined by not being able to conceive a sweet baby of our own. Then the next two were full of cleft surgeries for our gift from God, Georgia Ruth. And of course, wild man Joel enters the scene – but those next two years are defined with the constant unknowing and walking faith of whether Joel Nathaniel would be ours forever. The next three years were starkly defined by my father’s constant hospitalizations. Not to mention, massive church hurt and the splitting of our church, twice. Lifetime friendships disappearing like a ship out to sea. And then – the loss of my sister to Covid. Despair and Darkness. A core regrouping of faith and family. And the many other battles that attempted to take out our marriage, our health, our family and our lives in 2021. The constant need of GRACE defines us. The constant need of NEW BEGINNINGS defines us. The constant hits of tribulation mark our story.

Yes, you see the smiles. Yes, you see the laughter. But the tears and struggles in the deepest part of our souls are there. It’s through the tears and the pains that make the smile brighter and the laughter richer. Recently, we have had the honor of leading in worship at our church together. There are not many sweeter things than this. Serving with your spouse and covenant partner is one of the most rewarding joys in our journey. We have went through seasons that have rocked us to the foundation. And instead of running, which is my response to all things difficult, we clung together. Many days, Clif clinging to me – thank God He is stable in my madness. These days are sweeter together. When I have tried to consider my life without him, the unweaving is impossible. We are matted together. We are so connected it is impossible to undo. It is unfathomable for either of us to truly survive if apart. Which, by design, I am thankful for.

We have a sign in our living room from a Hillsong song that speaks so powerfully to my soul, and as my son was reading it out loud last night it really came to life in a whole new way….

“Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders,
Let me walk upon the waters,
Wherever You would call me.
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander,
And my faith will be made stronger,
In the presence of my Saviour”

I have always longed for my God to lead me to deep places with Him. Intimate places that only He could define over me. I have prayed this prayer so many times, but never did I realize that all of the journey I have walked in have allowed Him to remove my borders. He has removed the borders of what I thought I could trust and where I thought I could go – He has redefined the journey. My prayers today look and feel different than ever before. My ministry and mission are wildly unlike anything I expected and anticipated for myself, my marriage, my family and my home. In fact, during this season of Daniel Fast, Clif and myself are praying for exactly that – we honestly have no clue what 2023 holds, but we know He is at work in us and our family. We are believing God to continue to light the way as only He sees fit and we will keep walking in the light He gives. I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 13 when I think of the love Christ is building in us –

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

This year will be our best year yet, mainly because we are clay in the Hands of the Potter. This year, He continues to write on our hearts His story of redemption, love and peace. Only He knows what the next 362 days hold – and for that, I am thankful.

I will leave you with another song – an anthem I continue to sing over my home by Maverick City, “The Story I’ll Tell” –

“The hour is dark
And it’s hard to see
What You are doin’ here in the ruins
And where this will lead
Oh, but I know
That down through the years
I’ll look on this moment and see Your hand on it
And know You were here

And I’ll testify of the battles You’ve won
How You were my portion when there wasn’t enough
And I’ll testify of the seas that we’ve crossed
The waters You parted, the waves that I’ve walked

Singing, oh-oh-oh, my God did not fail!
Oh-oh-oh, it’s the story I’ll tell
Singing, oh-oh-oh, I know it is well
Oh-oh-oh, it’s the story I’ll tell

Believing gets hard
When options are few
When I can’t see what You’re doin’, I know that You’re proving
You’re the God who comes through
Oh, but I know (Woo, yeah)
That over the years
I’ll look back on this moment and see Your hand on it
And know You were here

And I’ll testify of the battles You’ve won, yeah-yeah
How You were my portion when there wasn’t enough, oh
I’ll testify of the seas that we’ve crossed, yes, I will
The waters You parted, the waves that I’ve walked (Woo)

And all that is left is highest praises, yeah, yeah
So sing hallelujah to the Rock of Ages”