God is There! (January Synchroblog - Charity)

It has always been my custom to dislike new years. The last several years for me have been full of hardship, loss, difficult times and unwanted experiences. The thought of a new year is always scary! What if it is harder than the last one?? What if there is harder stuff, bigger messes? I always tell myself new years are scary because they are unknown, at least the mess of the old year was a familiar one. In case it isn't obvious, my natural bent is toward the negative. I am definately a glass half empty (and probably rotten) kind of person. With all of that in mind, I was surprised to get to the end of 2014 without the usual dread of the new year. I actually came into this year feeling a sense of hope, a sense of God being up to something greater in this new year. What has changed?

2014 - A Year of Changes (January Synchroblog - FedEx)

    

        If there is one thing that I would say has characterized my last year, it has been change. Some of those changes were easy, some of them not so much; some of those changes were clearly for the better, and in some cases, are still looking for the good. I hear people say all the time that they hate change, and I really do appreciate that sentiment, change is difficult, it causes us to leave that which is known and forces us into that which is uncertain. Despite, all this, I don't hate change, I admit I am not always enthusiastic about changes in my life, but I have learned a lot through these changes.

       2014 started out with a major change for my family. In January, we lost our house to foreclosure and were forced to move out of what had been our home for nearly seven years. This was not just one change, it was a whole series of changes, we had been used to owning our house and now we rented from another owner. We had to ask permission to work on our house or to make changes. We moved several miles farther away from our home church into an unfamiliar neighborhood. Our neighbors changed, as did the routes that we had to drive to go about our regular business. Even now a year later, we are still dealing with settling into our new house and there are some items that have not been unpacked and found new homes.

Christian Books Free - Giving away copies of Simple Church.

Do you want a copy of the book Simple Church, but not sure you want to spend money on yet another book about church. OK, Redeeming Press, the publisher, is sponsoring this month's book giveaway at ChristianBooksFree.com . Just follow the link, and log in with your Facebook or e-mail address, and you are entered to win a paper copy(not electronic). And if you don't win you can still purchase your copy on Amazon.com or through redeeming Press' e-store here http://redeemingpress.com/authors/eric-carpenter/.