Reflecting on 2019

Artist: Rik Berry

This year is coming to a close and as it does, I’m reminded of many things that happened this year.

I don’t remember exactly the order in which things happened but I do remember the emotion and events.

Our beautiful Isabella Pearl was born she was prayed for, for two years before her arrival and what a blessing she is to her parents and her brother Carlos and sister Olivia, and to her grandparents. Thank you, Jesus, for sending her to us.

Abram and Mary moved into their new home with three beautiful babies.

Mark and Angelica and Esperanza came through some rough waters but overcame them all. Thank you, Jesus.

Jonathan became a husband with a beautiful bride Qing we welcome her to our family with open arms of love and happiness.

Rob Brazell came through a crisis and made it through, thank God you made it!

For me, at one point I didn’t think I’d see the end of the year. A heart issue gave me great concern and my heart even stopped on the table as they were doing a heart Cath…but Jesus was faithful…and hear I am to tell you the story. Weeks leading up to that point I fought tremendous fear and anxiety, I couldn’t walk from my couch to my kitchen about ten feet without my heart beating out of my chest and shortness of breath. Sleep would not come and the tormenter was having a hay day with my mind, body and spirit…until one night it seemed I could not take another minute and I cried out to God…The Holy Spirit spoke so gently to me, “Have you considered Jesus?” I saw in my minds eye, Jesus walking on the water and I cried, “Lord help me!” Peace settled over me and I slept.

I went to the doctor; I had the heart Cath and spent two days in the hospital that was an ordeal in itself. Many people were praying for me, perhaps you were one of those who prayed and God answered…I recovered, praise God.

Jesus never said that we wouldn’t go through trials, or heartache, on the contrary he said we would, but he also said, he would be with us THROUGH every trial…and he’s proven to be faithful every single time.

Life is hard and messy to say the least and it is never fair…but we aren’t put here on this earth to sit around and eat, bon bons and drink coca colas and get fat and sassy, oh no. Because there will always be problems…we are put here to come to the knowledge of who Jesus is and accept him as our Lord and savior so that we can help others find him too.

Are you facing something in your life so big that you can’t do anything about? Is your world spinning out of control and fear has you by the throat and is squeezing the life out of you? Christian or not …is there some news you received and everything seems hopeless and your scared to death? Let me ask you this, “Have you considered Jesus?”

Stop panicking, stop wringing your hands, stop worrying and fretting, and look up! Jesus is here…he’s holding out his hand to you waiting for you to ask him to help you.

Cry out to Him and I promise you, he will in an instant tell you He’s with you and will make a way…don’t doubt, don’t fear, have faith in Him and just like he said to Peter, he will say to you, “Come!”

Some have lost loved ones in 2019, some have faced divorce and financial ruin, some have even taken their own lives…it breaks the heart of God to see his children suffer…

I can’t promise what he will do, but I can promise, that he has promised he will be with you every step of the way through every crisis, heartache, sickness, trial…and when you realize that your “Big Brother” is with you, he will not let you fall… you will have a peace and a joy and a confidence that the enemy of your soul can not take away…let him have all of you, rest in his embrace and as the year is closing…let go of the fear and hurt of 2019, and have faith and a hope that in 2020, you will see clearly just who Jesus is and that he is with you and will be with you in your darkest hour. He gives life and light and grace to everyone who will believe and hold onto him.

God bless you today, and in the coming days, as we face whatever the new year brings…let it be that we considered Jesus for there is no one better to depend on than the loving, caring, Son of the Most-High-God. After all, Jesus is, the Savior…and when you feel as if you can’t take another step, cry out to him and he will carry you.

~Marla Shaw O’Neill December 27, 2019

1 Peter 5:7 Good News Translation (GNT)
Leave all your worries with him, because he cares for you.

John 14:1-3 The Passion Translation (TPT) Jesus Comforts His Disciples
“Don’t worry or surrender to your fear.[a] For you’ve believed in God, now trust and believe in me also.[b] 2 My Father’s house has many dwelling places.[c] If it were otherwise, I would tell you plainly, because I go[d] to prepare a place for you to rest. 3 And when everything is ready, I will come back and take[e] you to myself so that you will be where I am.

Footnotes:
a. John 14:1 Or “Don’t let your hearts be distressed.” The Aramaic is translated “Let not your heart flutter.”
b. John 14:1 Or “Believe in God and believe in me.”
c. John 14:2 Or “There are many resting places on the way to my Father’s house.” Or “There are many homes in my Father’s household.” The Father’s house is also mentioned by Jesus in John 2:16, where it is his temple on earth, his dwelling place. This is not just heaven, but the dwelling place of God among men. There is ample room for people from every nation and ethnicity, room to spare, for the church, the body of Christ, is now the house of God. See 1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 3:6; 1 Peter 2:5. Every believer is now one of the many dwelling places that make up God’s house (temple). See also v. 23.
d. John 14:2 Jesus’ “going” was to go through death and resurrection in order to make us ready to be his dwelling place. He had to “go,” not to heaven, but to the cross and pass through resurrection.
e. John 14:3 The Greek verb used here, paralambano, is the word used for a bridegroom coming to take his bride. He “takes” us as his bride through his death and resurrection. His “coming back” can also refer to his “coming” to live within believers.