In case you needed a reminder (and I sure did) about God’s patience not being the same as His absence, there you go. Remember for God a thousand years is as a day and a day is as a thousand years. So basically, time has no hold on God.

Also, in case you’re already freaking out about 2025, here are a few predictions that I found from 2013 in a post from Darrell A. Harris:

TOP TEN PREDICTIONS FOR 2013:

With all the problems the World is facing, it can be unsettling

to the mind.

“Today, I/we share with you ten predictions that are true!

*1. The Bible will still have all the answers.

2. Prayer will still be the most powerful thing on Earth..

3. The Holy Spirit will still move..

4. God will still honor the praises of His people.

5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.

6. There will still be singing of praise to God.

7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.

8. There will still be room at the Cross.

9. Jesus will still love you.

10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.

Isn’t it great To Remember Who Is Really In Control,

and that; “the Word of the Lord endures forever.” ( 1 Peter 1:25 )

‘Til the nets are full, keep on fishing!”

“Though the cherry trees don’t blossom
    and the strawberries don’t ripen,
Though the apples are worm-eaten
    and the wheat fields stunted,
Though the sheep pens are sheepless
    and the cattle barns empty,
I’m singing joyful praise to God.
    I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God.
Counting on God’s Rule to prevail,
    I take heart and gain strength.
I run like a deer.
    I feel like I’m king of the mountain!” (Habakkuk 3:17-19, The Message).

I’m putting no provisions on God in 2025. I’m still praying for a job and a spouse, like all good Christians, but my hope isn’t dependent on those things. I am confident that God is enough.

I’d like to say that I’ll praise God no matter what, but I’m fearful and prone to worry. I get distracted easily and lose focus on what’s important often. But God is worthy of my worship no matter what.

God is enough. I can bank on every single one of His promises. I can depend on Him to do for me and to give me what’s best and what I need most (and not always what I ask for or what I want). I can rest assured that God will keep from me those things I ask for which would destroy me if I got them.

I can confidently assert like Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him!”

In the wonderful world of social media, I see lots of posts of lots of people offended by lots of stuff. Usually, it’s what the other political side said or did. It’s something “their” President said or did. Many people seem to think it’s their job to point out the wrongdoings of everyone else, especially when it’s “them” doing it.

I listened to a great audiobook recently entitled Unoffendable by Brent Hansen. The gist of this masterful little book is that believers should be the hardest people to offend because we understand our own frailty and weakness foremost. We understand that it’s hard to cast any stones when we have plenty of our own sin to deal with.

Again, I want to give a reminder to anyone reading these words that it’s not your job to fix everything that’s wrong with everybody else. It’s not your place to try to right every wrong, to rectify every injustice. You can be sad that we live in a world where not everything works like it’s supposed to or that not everyone abides by God’s law. But you also need to remember that we live in a beautiful but broken world where life is unfair but God is always good. Our hope is not in this world or in this life but in Jesus who will come again and restore what was broken and make everything right.

If every single person could look in the mirror and work on what they saw there instead of pointing out the errors of everyone else, we’d all be a lot better off. Better yet, if we spent less time complaining and whining and more time praying for those people, we might find ourselves less inclined to be anxious. We might even love those on the other side a little more.

The key is before you try to fix everyone else, fix yourself first. Or just let God fix you and let Him worry about fixing everybody else. Sound good to you?

It can be very tempting to waste the present by focusing on and wishfully thinking about the future. You can be so zoned in on where you want to go next that you miss the place where you are. I’ve been guilty of wasting weekdays by living for the next weekend.

But even if you don’t necessarily like where you are, you can still learn from it. You can grow where you’re planted and use the time to become the person God can use in the next place He has for you. Sometimes, the best training school is the one where you patiently endure the season you’re in until the next one starts.

Oswald Chambers said that sometimes God will teach you a lesson in the dark that you can use to help others once you’re back in the daylight again. You experience the kindness and compassion of Christ while you’re in a season of suffering so that you can in turn show that same kindness and compassion to others when it’s their turn.

Most of all, you identify most with Jesus when you suffer. He was known as a Man of Sorrows and told us that in this world we would have suffering. It wasn’t a matter of if but when. And when we do undergo trials, we know that our Savior has been through everything we experience but did not sin. Plus, He is with us through the fiery trials.

The key is to count it all joy. Again, don’t be a masochist and thank God for suffering, but you can be grateful in the midst of the pain knowing that God is with you and is working all things for good. The disciples rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus. May we do the same.