{"id":3787,"date":"2017-12-31T22:23:50","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T03:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/?p=3787"},"modified":"2017-12-31T22:55:50","modified_gmt":"2018-01-01T03:55:50","slug":"good-riddance-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/?p=3787","title":{"rendered":"Good Riddance 2017…"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t know about you, but this year was probably the most difficult one for me. I won’t get into the details, but suffice it to say, it was hard beyond words.<\/p>\n

To be honest, I am a bit apprehensive about 2018.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Creative Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

But, even though it was a tough year,\u00a0there was still\u00a0a lot to be thankful for. And three things come to mind: faith, family and friends.<\/p>\n

Faith<\/em><\/strong>…<\/p>\n

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:\u00a0By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. <\/b>And not only\u00a0so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;\u00a0And patience, experience; and experience, hope:\u00a0And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”<\/em> (Romans 5:1-5)<\/p>\n

I drew closer to God this year. I believe it was the hardship that\u00a0brought me closer to Him. Which reminds me of this verse…<\/p>\n

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,<\/strong> being made conformable unto his death.<\/em>” (Philippians 3:10)
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Our faith grows not when everything goes right or our way, but through suffering. Pain, loss, suffering helps us\u00a0grow and mature as Christians. Pain certainly doesn’t feel good, but sometimes it is necessary for us to see things clearly and change our perspective and priorities in life.<\/p>\n

Family<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“…but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”\u00a0<\/em>(Joshua 24:15)
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One of the things I am most grateful for is my family and that we are serving the Lord together. I am also grateful for my family in Christ, the few close sisters who have stood by me and prayed for me.<\/p>\n

Friends<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

“There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.<\/em>” (Proverbs 18:24 NLT)<\/p>\n

“A man of too many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.<\/em>” (Proverbs 18:24 NASB)<\/p>\n

I have been blessed to know many people in my life, and to call them friends. However, this year has taught me who my real friends are.<\/p>\n

First and foremost, it is Jesus Christ. Second, my husband,\u00a0who has had a million excuses to leave, but chose to stay. He is my example of strength, character, integrity and tenacity in the face of difficulties, obstacles and opposition. He is loyal, committed and a friend who sticks closer than a brother.<\/p>\n

I realize that sometimes it takes falling and failing to distinguish truth from lies.\u00a0To recognize\u00a0who is actually for you, not just when the sun is shining, but when the sky is grey for days.\u00a0The gift of being able to see beyond the smoke screens, fakes, phonies, and politically correct, the ones who only know how to smile in your face, and\u00a0stab you in the back<\/p>\n

I have had plenty of those kinds of friends. More than my fair share. But I thank God for all of them, my dear frenemies, because they taught me so much. So many valuable and priceless lessons. They have no idea how much they’ve served me.<\/p>\n

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result…<\/em>” (Genesis 50:20 NASB)<\/p>\n

When you are told so many lies… they\u00a0begin to sound like the truth. Until the facade evaporates, and the ugly truth remains.<\/p>\n

I’d rather\u00a0know the hard truth than believe a bunch of lies. Those saccharine laced words, so sweet at first, leaving a nasty aftertaste.\u00a0I thank God for delivering me from the web of deception, and for the pain I’ve endured at the hands of people I’ve cared about and loved, because I am no longer\u00a0enslaved\u00a0to them. I am free. Thank you, Jesus.<\/p>\n

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.<\/em>” (John 8:36 NASB)
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This is my prayer for you:<\/p>\n

“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;\u00a0That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,\u00a0May be able to comprehend with all saints what\u00a0is\u00a0the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;\u00a0And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,\u00a0Unto him\u00a0be\u00a0glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.<\/em>” (Ephesians 3:16-21)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Happy New Year!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t know about you, but this year was probably the most difficult one for me. I won’t get into the details, but suffice it to say, it was hard beyond words. To be honest, I am a bit apprehensive about 2018. But, even though it was a tough year,\u00a0there was still\u00a0a lot to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[10,8,7],"tags":[1349,1479,1222,751,1478,370,891,735,571,221],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3787"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3787"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3787\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3798,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3787\/revisions\/3798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ordinaryservant.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}