The Best Time of Day

(Photo credit Jim Fisher)

Dear Sisters in Christ,
I have missed you all so much too! Thank you for your kind letters to me. They brought tears to my eyes and a whispered, "Thank you" to my LORD in Heaven. My last guests will be leaving tomorrow morning. It has been a busy season, but awfully fun.
Another year in our LORD has begun. So much to learn from Him this year. I look forward to it all. I am a sponge; and He is the Living Water.
This year I pray to know Him more and to love Him more. There is no one like our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ. The more I know of Him, the more I want to know of Him. How is this possible? Through His Living Word.
If you do not have a special time carved out of your day to spend alone with Him, I encourage you to do so this year. Six years ago I started to spend time alone with Him each morning. The more I knew of Him, the more I loved Him. The more I loved Him, the more I wanted to know of Him and love Him more. And what does His Word say?
"I love you, LORD, my strength." Psalm 18:1
He is indeed my strength. For apart from Him, I can do nothing. Especially help build up a home. But with Him, ahhh with Him, all things are possible! There is no one like our God. I cannot afford to miss a day alone in His Beautiful Presence.
I call it "tithing my time." For as I give Him the firstfruits of my day, I find the rest of my day to be holy - set apart for Him. Does this mean I have wonderful, problem-free days? On the contrary. ~Smile~ Jesus did not have wonderful, problem-free days when He walked this earth so long ago. Instead He said that each day will have enough trouble of its own. What He did do was walk in the Father's will, in the Father's peace, for the Father's glory. And how I long to do the same in my days on this earth.
So how do I do this practically in my home? I get up every morning, while the rest of the house slumbers, to steal away with my LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ. I can testify it is the best time of my day. The rest of my day is built on this time alone with Him; just as a budget is built on giving Him the firstfruits of an income. The rest that is left becomes holy, or set apart for Him, as one seeks His will in every moment. Then the multiplying begins. Oh, Sisters, then the multiplying begins!
He is the One Who prepares my hands to work in ways I never dreamed possible. How? By the encouragement of His Beautiful Word flowing through my mind before I set my hands to their tasks. And as He talks to me, I talk back to Him in the sweetest of all intimacies: prayer and praise.
May the LORD draw you to Himself this year as never before. Close, close, close to His Heart. And with me, may you say each morning:
"Behold the handmaid of the LORD. Be it done to me as you wish."
No better way to begin a day. No better way to begin a New Year. No better way to live a life. For Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." May we perfume this world with the abundant life lived out in us through Jesus Christ our LORD.
Happy New Year, Sisters!
Love,
Laine

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