From: "Beverly French" <frenchb@vcss.k12.ca.us>
To: "Heritage" <gheritage.ga@verizon.net>
Subject: Blessings to All
Date: Sunday, December 29, 2002 7:53 AM

"But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a
woman..."  Galatians 4: 4

How grateful we are to be in that part of history; 'that fullness of time'!
Had it not been so, our Bibles would stop at the end of Malachi with all the
promises to come at a future time.  Hallelujah! the time did come.  So we:

"Give thanks with a grateful heart
 Give thanks to the Holy One
 Give thanks because He's given
 Jesus Christ, His Son."

As we see in several of the Psalms the word Selah (pause) and we, also, see
the word Haggaion (meditation), let us pause and reflect on the past year.
It is so easy and natural for us to thank the Lord for all the good things
He has given and we do this gladly.  But have we given Him thanks for the
hard things that we have gone through?   Remember, "In everything give
thanks; for this is the will of God concerning you in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians 1:18

As you pause and reflect, have you come to know Christ in a greater measure?
Those hard times are really a blessing because we are pressed into the only
One who can bear all things.  These are the times our faith and trust are
deepened in 'the only wise God'.  These are the times we come to KNOW Him in
a greater reality.  It is true, you may not want to go through those
circumstances again, but can you not say, "I am so glad that I did because I
know Whom I have trusted and He is able to keep that which I have entrusted
to Him?"  The Apostle Paul says it this way in 2 Timothy l:12,
"For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I
know Whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I
have entrusted to Him until that day."

The Whom we trust and believe is none other than the,
"...Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6

As we look to the new year may our hearts hunger and thirst after a greater
knowledge of Christ, our Savior and Lord.  And to Him we give all honor,
praise and glory for it is rightfully His.  Amen