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Over the next 20 days, I'm going to be reading through Paul's letters in Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. I will be reading one chapter a day in my devotional time and writing in my journal what I learn. I will then read the daily devotion in "Our Daily Bread". I'll read the Bible passage and write in my journal first, and will then read what the author for that day's devotional wrote. On my blog, I will share what God taught me in both passages I read during my devotional time.

Galatians 1:11-12 says, "I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ." As most of you probably already know, Paul's name use to be Saul. He persecuted the Christian church and was responsible for many Christians being killed. One day as Saul was on his way to Damascus, he was blinded by a bright light and heard Jesus speak to him. That experience changed Saul's life! His name was changed to Paul and he began preaching the good news of Jesus. Most people become Christians because they attend church and hear someone preaching a sermon, or they are witnessed to by a friend. Paul was changed because Jesus spoke to him directly!

As I thought about these two verses, Jesus laid it on my heart that He was doing the same thing with me. Over the last 21 days, I really have been striving to learn what God wanted to teach me. I had slowed down in my Bible reading and really tried to listen to what God was saying. He was faithful each day to show me something in each passage I read. After I wrote what I felt God was saying to me in my journal, I would write about it here on my blog. I was sharing what God had revealed to me. In my own little way, I was acting a little bit like Paul! What I was learning each day wasn't coming from a sermon I was hearing or from a friend talking to me, it was coming right from Jesus Himself! What I wrote in my journal and on this blog were things that God had revealed to me and I in turn shared them here. I've had complete strangers find things I wrote on my blog so helpful that they left me a comment telling me about it. That has always meant so much to me because I truly felt that God was telling me what to write so that He could then lead someone else here who needed to read what I wrote. In my own little way, this blog is a way for me to minister to others.

I'm not saying you have to start a blog. What I do think is that each of us needs to find some way to reach out to others and share what God is doing in our lives. When God reveals something to you, don't keep it to yourself! SHARE IT! Don't be afraid of what others might think. You never know when something you say could change a person's life forever.

Psalm 73:23 says "Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand." That verse just seemed to leap right off the page when I read it. What an amazing thought! Today begins a new year. What better way to start it then to be reminded that every second of every day, I am always with God because God is always with me and He hold me by the hand as we walk together through the day. There is no situation I will face this year that God will not be right there with me. We will go through everything TOGETHER! No matter what you may face this year, remember that you don't need to be afraid. You are not alone! God is right there with you. Lean on Him when you need to. Keep pressing on and know you will make it because God will be right there beside you, holding your hand, and helping you through it.