​I love snowflakes! Not one is exactly like another. Their intricate design manifests the unfathomable creativity of our Lord.  They remind me that if the Lord would create a snowflake to be incredibly unique, He delights in the uniqueness of each of us.
 
I also love to ski, maybe more than most Florida girls. I typically ski once a year and then I spend the rest of the year dreaming about it (no kidding, I actually have dreams about skiing). Recently, my family spent some time in Colorado. One day, while I was on a ski lift, it was snowing and I was catching the snowflakes and admiring their beauty and design. I was thanking the Lord for His creation, then I looked down at the ski slope and thought, “I love this snowflake but if I am going to ski it will take a whole lot more than just one”.  
 
Romans 12:6 says, “In His grace God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well”. (NLT) He created each of us to be different, with unique gifts, and talents and unique ways that bring Him honor and glory.  But the Lord also created us to come together in our uniqueness to accomplish His work in this world, this is the Church.
 
The Church isn’t the building we meet in, or the denomination we belong to. The Church consists of believers all over the world, unified by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of pointing others to Jesus. Romans 12:5-6 “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.”(NLT)
 
We need each other! I need to be encouraged and strengthened by how the Lord is working in and through you and you need the same from me. We are also placed in a specific community, whether you are in a big city or a rural village, with unique gifts and talents that when unified with other believers will reach a lost world with the love of Christ.
 
As much as I love the beauty and uniqueness of a single snowflake, it is weak and fragile by itself, a breath will cause it to melt. But joined together with other snowflakes it creates an incredibly beautiful wintry world that brings joy to a girl like me.
 
This gives us just a glimpse of what the Church is to be.  A place where uniquely gifted people come together by the power of the Holy Spirit to create a place where a lost and dying world will find life, hope and love in Jesus. 

 ​I have always enjoyed going for walks. When my husband and I were first married, we would take long walks together on a dirt road near our home. We would walk and talk and dream about our future together.

As our family grew, our children joined us on our walks. These family walks were just a part of our lives. Now, when our grown children come home or we go to visit them, we often take walks together. I have had many conversations with loved ones while walking up and down a road or in a neighborhood or on a trail. These are precious memories for me.

In the genealogy of the human race, early in the book of Genesis, chapter 5:21-24, we meet a man named Enoch.  The list of “who fathered who” is interrupted with just a few descriptive words in these verses, but the words tell us that the man Enoch walked faithfully with God.
 
Twice in these four verses, it is said of Enoch that he walked with God.    The Ryrie Study Bible notes, “Enoch is an exception to the dismal refrain (‘and he died’) of this chapter.  He walked (literally, walked about, i.e., lived) with God, and instead of letting him die, God took him (the same Hebrew word is used for the translation (taking) of Elijah in 2 Kings 2:3, 5).  In other words, Enoch went directly to heaven without dying….”

I have heard it said that perhaps as God and Enoch were walking together one day God said to Enoch, “You know, we are closer to My home than yours, why don’t you just go home with Me today.”

Enoch’s walking with God symbolized the close relationship he shared with God. When you walk with someone, you travel in the same direction.  Walking together gives you time to think and talk.  Walking always makes me feel better; my head seems to clear; my perspective seems to broaden.

In the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 11:5, we are told a bit more about Enoch, “By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: ‘He could not be found, because God had taken him away.’ For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.” (NLT)

The next verse, verse 6, tells us what it takes to please God:  And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.(NLT)  

I don’t think that faith was hard for Enoch.  I think that Enoch’s faith was like taking one step at a time.  When God invites us to walk with Him, it’s just like walking with anyone, you do it one step at a time.  And taking one step at a time, walking with God, evidently makes God very happy.

I realize we are well into 2020 now, but I was recently thinking about last year as a whole. Just like me, you probably experienced a year filled with ups and downs, the ebb and flow of life...
fun ~ frustrations, faith ~ doubts, joyful~ heartbroken,  filled up spiritually ~ times of drought, thriving ~ surviving.
Sometimes we feel like we are the only ones going through difficult times, and the sweet times can seemingly be swallowed up by the most recent struggle or the apparent storm that is brewing.

During 2019 I experienced abundant joy as three new grandchildren were born into our family. There was the unanticipated blessing of two of our children and their families moving back to our home town. I received many beautiful answers from our Lord through prayer. Everyday there were so many things to be thankful for, but I admit that I didn’t take time to appreciate or thank the Lord for many of them. I am such a work in progress!

There were also things that were difficult to bear. My precious Mom went to be with the Lord. I know this is a praise, but a great loss to our lives. Two of our newest grandchildren spent time in the hospital. The prayer requests for friends and family were heavy with cancer, marriage issues and loss. Throughout the year were also the attacks of the enemy. 
Do I share this to complain? No. But to say that I get it! Life isn’t always a walk in the park!  There is a way, though, to look at our lives through a lens that will help us walk each day more  victoriously. Through the Word of God, I would like to suggest three ways we can learn to thrive more often during the ever-changing, ups and downs of day to day life. 
Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You.” (NIV)

• According to this verse, who will keep us in perfect peace? God will!!!

As our Heavenly Father, He offers us this peace as we get filled up in Him (the Holy Spirit) by reading The Word of God each day. For the Word is living and active. (Hebrews 4:12)He also calls us to talk to Him (Jeremiah 33:3) and to seek Him with all our heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)

• What should our minds be? Steadfast!

Our mind entertains many thoughts each day.  Philippians 4:8 is the gauge through which we should always measure our thoughts, “Fix your minds on what is true.” (NLT)  Sometimes we allow ourselves to believe lies and other times we let our minds go to the “what if’s.” My challenge to myself and to you is that we become more consistent in letting the light of The Word shine upon our thought life.

Another way to have our minds steadily thinking on Him is to intentionally look for things in which to be thankful. Each day is filled with gifts from the Lord. (James 1:17) 

• What are we suppose to do? Trust in God!

I’ve heard it said that, “Faith is only as good as the object in which a person puts his trust.” There is only One worthy of our complete trust, our Lord!  Our faith will grow as we spend time getting to know Him through Scripture, praying and being more keenly aware and thankful for ALL that comes from His hand.
Lord, help us think on You and trust You more!

My three-year-old son is currently obsessed with the movie Cars 3, which is a cartoon movie about race cars. One morning, he was watching one of his favorite parts from the movie. There is an “underdog” car, named Cruz, and she is racing her final laps of the big race. The car that is in the lead, named Jackson Storm, starts ridiculing Cruz and tells her she doesn’t deserve to be in the race. She gets discouraged, which causes her to slow down. From the sidelines, her trainer asks her, “Do you see what just happened?...You got into his head. He sees something in you that you don’t even see in yourself.” You see, because Jackson Storm was concerned that Cruz actually might beat him, he knew he had to try to taunt her, so she wouldn’t see what she was capable of: winning.

As I was eating breakfast at the kitchen table, watching this scene unfold, I thought to myself how this is what we can be like with Satan. We can become discouraged by all of his tactics that attempt to “steal, kill and destroy us” (John 10:10). We fail to see, however, that he attacks us because he’s threatened by us. He knows that, as believers, we have the power of Christ at work in us and he wants us to doubt God and His promises, rendering us ineffective for the Gospel. The second half of John 10:10 says, “I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.”  Satan knows that God has “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11). He wants to keep us distracted and focused on evil and temporal things, like worry about the future, shame from the past, and discouragement for today. If he can keep us from seeing what amazing power we have at work within us, through Jesus Christ, then he can paralyze us and keep us from living the abundant life God has given us! In the book Fervent by Priscilla Shirer, she says “Aren’t you at least a little bit curious what he’s trying to keep you from experiencing?”
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Today, I encourage you, instead of being discouraged by the difficult circumstances around you and the spiritual warfare you are facing, change your perspective to see that Satan is attacking you because he knows that God has good in store for you. He wants to keep you from it. So don’t let him. “His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3)