A Brand New Day

I woke up thinking about the fact that it has been one year since we sold our "old" home and bought this "new home", and oh! what a journey this has been!! I have attached a couple of posts here from last year when we were going through all of that, in case you missed them or just want to go back and remember along with me:

This was the "view" of "Still Waters Pond" when we first saw it a year ago.

Click HERE for "Exciting News"  This particular post was written when we finally had buyers for our previous house and we also had found the home of our dreams and were able to go ahead and sign that contract to purchase it. 

This is how "Still Waters Pond" looks today. 

In that post I also talked about the last Sunday for our former pastor, who was retiring.  What is interesting, here we are again a year later, and the "new pastor" we received last year was truly only serving as an interim and was part time (actually serving two churches at the same time, and we greatly appreciate his ministry to us for this past year), and now this week we will be beginning another new chapter in the life of our church with another new pastor, who will be full time. We are very excited because he is a person that we already know and love and we believe this will be a very blessed season in the life of our church. But that is another story for another day.  Please pray for our church this week as we plan to reopen finally after being closed all these months due to Covid 19. 

 

A welcome message from our new Pastor.

Perhaps you will remember when I wrote  this Last Message From Here.  Kind of a bittersweet post as we began packing up all of our belongings in preparation for the very big move to our new community and home.

The front door and porch of our last house on the 4th of July last year.

And then I wrote this "First Post from HERE" after we got moved into our church parsonage for a temporary stay until we could close on our new house and get moved again...

Here's our selfie in front of the church parsonage after we had moved in all of our stuff to stay temporarily for about 6 weeks.

And then do you Remember this Post...An Interesting Coincidence?  

Not our front door...but you should read the post linked above to get the "coincidence".

And this is how our front door looks now:

Anyway, I've just been walking back through the past year and all of the ups and downs and good times and not so good times, and I wanted to pause and say, "Thank You, Lord, for Your blessings!"  As we all know this year, 2020, in particular, has been filled with many difficulties for our country. When we were in the process of moving last summer to our new home we never could have imagined all that would be taking place here less than a year later.  But we are very thankful that we are here. We are surrounded by God's beauty and have our family and friends nearby. Our little church has been closed for a few months, but we are getting ready to begin a new chapter there as well...a new beginning in many ways besides the fact that we are getting a new Pastor.  We will be meeting in our Fellowship Hall so we can be more "socially distanced". We will wear masks, and there won't be any congregational or choir singing for a while. There are still many challenges ahead for all of us.  But one thing is for certain, God has not changed.  He is still in control. He will continue to be with us and go with us through whatever challenges lie ahead.

Here are some words from the Psalms that give me comfort today:

Psalm 4:6-8

6.  "There are many who say,

"Who will show us any good?"

Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.

7.  You have put gladness in my heart,

More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.

8.  I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;

For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety."

Psalm 5:11-12

11.  " But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;

Let them ever shout for joy,

because You defend them;

Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.

12.  For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous;

With favor You will surround him as with a shield."

The sun is rising on a brand new day in our lives. Let us rejoice and put our trust in the Lord!

Amen.