Fall is here! The leaves are turning colors, the temperatures are cooling, and the days are growing shorter. This year of 2024 has certainly been a different year than we have experienced in the past. The paths we will need to follow may seem narrower than before, the decisions more difficult and standing alone for what is right may seem like a lonely place, but our Father will not leave us alone. He says in John 14:18, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you”.

The realities will require prayer, not formal, not only memorized, but Gethsemane-laden and hope-filled prayer. Our Father encourages us saying, “ Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD”. Psalm 31:24

Just as Jesus left the disciples in the garden to move ahead alone, so must we. Yes, there is a  time to pray with family, friends, church members and sometimes even strangers, but then we must move to a place where we are only with our Lord, in our own garden. 

Jesus had to walk along that dark and rocky path to that place where He fell on his knees and cried out to His Father. He had a choice, He could have gone back to heaven, but He loved us too much to leave us and so He stayed. He was never to be the same again, and neither will we, Praise God! I think of Psalm 16:11, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is  fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore”. 

As you fall on your knees, allow His Grace to wash over you and His love to infuse your heart  and mind with a new ability to love spiritually. A new sense of victory and a new energy to serve  Him will come – a season of change! 

Sweaters will soon appear and not long after coats will be required to protect from the falling temperatures and gusty winds. Your faith will also require an enhanced layer of trust and hope to surround your heart with the warmth of His love. Prayer filled strength will come  empowering you to emerge from a place of “self” to a place of “other” centeredness.

A place filled with opportunities to give that you have never noticed before, faces you have never seen before and heart cries you have never heard before. Thus, greater reasons to pray and pray those Gethsemane-like prayers!

Welcome to a new humility and meekness and yet, holy boldness. Watch doors not just open  but be removed from their hinges, mountains flattened into plains and crooked ways made  straight. Isiah 42:16, “ I will bring the blind by a way they knew not; I will lead them in paths that  they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These  things will I do unto them, and not forsake them”. 

 Join Peter in Acts 3:6, Paul in Romans 1:16 and John in Revelation 21:1-4! All experienced a  season of change, never to be the same again! Let us listen to Jude say in verse 24, “Now unto  Him that is able to keep you from falling ,and to present you faultless before the presence of his  glory with exceeding joy…” Such hope and steel-like promises are ours. Let us claim them and  march forward as soldiers of the cross and followers of the Lamb!  

As you soak in this colorful season, may you be drawn to support this faith-based  ministry. We can only move forward in service as you partner with us through your  prayers and donations. Thank you and may you be blessed by this message. 

We look forward to hearing from you. Until next time, remember that, “Moreover the law  entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace does much more  abound.” Romans 5:20