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Ringing in the New Year brings a lot of promise and hope for “new” and “better.” In leaving 2022, you hear people say I had a rough 2022. I am hoping for a better 2023. I think we can all agree life has challenges, but as a Christ Follower, God promises us that He will not put more on us than we can handle. He promises us that He will never leave us or forsake us. He promises that when we follow Him, our life will be good!

The Word says, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

As Christ Followers, it is easy to forget the second half of that verse, “are called according to His purpose.” Living in today’s world, we must be vigilant and determined to follow God. Our lives become about the glorification of God. We no longer serve ourselves when we follow Christ, but we serve God. Let me clarify.

We serve God in every decision and choice we make. As you study God’s Word, you find we must make choices based on what God says about it. It is easy to point out: don’t be drunk, don’t do harm to your body, don’t commit murder. It’s easy to understand those. But God instructs that there is only “one way” in many aspects. He tells us, “If” then and he also says, “for this reason” why we must do what He says.

I submit to you if you want things to go well for you in 2023, then choose to follow God, choose to learn His Word so you know how to follow God blessed. God tells us to learn His Word. “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) If you do not have a devotional or personal Bible plan to follow, get one: go to the library, have a free one printed from the internet, ask your pastor or Bible teachers to help with finding what will work for you. And please, I urge you to get a translation of the Bible you can understand. If the “them and thou” is hard for you to understand, then you get one you can read. (There are Bibles for different education levels).

For 2023: May the Lord bless you and keep you. Make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace. Amen!

Yvette Perrin can be reached at theword2yvette@gmail.com.