I have been partying since December 22nd when I drove to Alto, TX to be with my daughter and family for several days of Christmas celebrations. From there, I headed back home and party-hardy was the theme at the Wuerch\u2019s in Austin. The day after Christmas, we headed to Cabo del Sol where each day provides lots of activities and\/or rest \u2013 depending on what any of us desires to do at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But soon all this activity here will come to a screeching halt and life will resume as it was before the holidays. From all that activity to walking into my quiet, non-busy apartment home could really be a downer if I dwelt on who and what I didn’t have. I could dwell on being alone or even lonely. My main word of encouragement for those of us who will resume \u201cthe usual\u201d is to remind us about “Emmanuel” (God with us).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many have been going through “stuff”, yet “Emmanuel” (God with us) is our great hope and assurance. We are never alone because God is with us. He cares. He loves. He gives. He holds. He surprises. He embraces. He laughs. He soothes. He rejoices. \u201cFor the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, He will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.\u201d Zephaniah 3:17<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My daily routine includes spending time with Jesus as I pray, praise, read His Word and take notes on what He’s saying back to me. That is whether I am here, there or anywhere. Maybe I’ll spend a few minutes or many minutes — it doesn’t matter to Him, but it does to me. I need Him like I need breath to breathe. When I breathe Him (His presence) in — He brings me peace. He is with me during my everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I purpose to live my days remembering that God is with me, so as anyone that would be a passenger in my car, or a guest at my dinner table, I will talk to Him. I will talk to Him about any, and everything. I will thank Him for the \u201cfavors\u201d that come, like green lights, the parking places close to the doors of the store, the \u201cbargains\u201d that I may find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because I stay close to Him during my days, when the times of unexpected challenges come, I just remember, I\u2019m not facing anything alone, because God is with me\u2026..and I feel His peace right away. I know He will bring about what\u2019s best for me. I urge you to KNOW Him \u2013 to know Emmanuel \u2013 He is with me \u2013 He is with YOU!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I desire to get so caught up in “God with me” in this new year, that I become more desperate for God than I have ever been before. Not because I am in a crisis-or-needy-mode, but because I want more of Him, and less of me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I desire Emmanuel — God with me — morning, noon and night, and all the in-between time. The bright LIGHT of Christmas isn\u2019t just with us at the season of Christmas. He is with us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe LORD Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.\u201d Deuteronomy 31:8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have been partying since December 22nd when I drove to Alto, TX to be with my daughter and family for several days of Christmas celebrations. From there, I headed back home and party-hardy was the theme at the Wuerch\u2019s in Austin. The day after Christmas, we headed to Cabo del Sol where each day…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4151,548,1210,25470,1769,18631,12982,494,25468,25471,491,8009,39,40,25469,3964,21049,44,22761,6524],"class_list":["post-17340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-activity","tag-assurance","tag-blog","tag-calms-our-fears","tag-christian","tag-delights-in-us","tag-deuteronomy-318","tag-emmanuel","tag-god-lives-among-us","tag-god-with-me","tag-god-with-us","tag-his-presence","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-mighty-savior","tag-never-alone","tag-never-leave-us","tag-peace","tag-rejoices-over-us","tag-zephaniah-317"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17340"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17344,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17340\/revisions\/17344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}