What Tomorrow Holds

Like you, I had no clue on January 1 what 2025 would hold, and there have been a few blessings and some tough struggles. But God knew everything that was to occur in those 365 days. As 2026 begins, He is equally aware of how it will unfold. How can I be so confident? Because Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last, and they are used to express completeness from beginning to end. Three times in Revelation, Jesus declares, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” and each time He adds a little more to His self-proclamation.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega” (1:8).
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (21:6).
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (22:13).
Jesus is the Beginning of time (Genesis 1:14) and the End of time, because He is timeless (1 Peter 1:11). He called forth the first light (Genesis 1:3), and He will extinguish it and replace it with Himself (Revelation 21:23). He is the Beginning of all righteousness and the end of all evil (Matthew 25:46).
If you are in Christ, He is also the Alpha and the Omega of your life. He is the Beginning and the End of your day—He is there with you when you wake in the morning and when you lay your head down at night, and every hour in between. He continues to watch over you through the night. He is the First and the Last over your life—He was there when you drew your first breath, and He will walk with you into heaven when you draw your last, and He will never leave your side all the days of your life.
We do not know what 2026 will bring, what blessings and struggles, hellos and goodbyes, Joys and sorrows. But we can greet the coming year confident that the Alpha and Omega is already there. Beloved, I invite you to begin the New Year with words of this beautiful old hymn:
I don’t worry o’er the future
For I know what Jesus said
And today I’ll walk beside Him
For He knows what is ahead
Many things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand.
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.[1]
[1] I Know Who Holds Tomorrow – words and music by Ira F. Stanphill, @1950.

The First Evangelist May Surprise You

The majority of people mentioned in the Bible are men. It was a patriarchal time and place, and only a handful of women garnered much attention. Only two have whole books in the Scriptures dedicated to their story: Ruth and Esther. Only one was the first evangelist of the Gospel. Her name is Anna, and her story is told in Luke 2:36-38. That’s only three verses, but she is an important character in the life of Jesus.
Anna was described by Luke as a prophetess from the tribe of Asher, a very old widow who “never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying (Lk 2:36-37). That was her calling. She lived a dedicated, focused life of worship and devotion. Anna’s hope was centered on the promise of God to redeem His people from the cruelty of the Romans.
Anna’s heart longed for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Like Simeon, she never stopped looking forward to God’s Messiah; she was sure He would come. She was so certain and so focused that when the baby arrived in the temple courts with His parents, she recognized Him immediately because when God sends you your heart’s desire, you know it right away.
Anna’s ministry bloomed then and there as she encouraged God’s people by pointing to the fulfillment of His promise. Luke wrote, “Coming up to [Mary and Joseph] at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (v. 38). I can see her now, going from person to person in the courtyard exclaiming: “He’s here! He’s here! This is the One I’ve been praying for! Oh, praise the name of the Lord – He has sent the Redemption of Israel!”
What’s so important about an old woman making a fuss over a baby? This Baby was the long-awaited Messiah, and that made Anna the first person to proclaim Jesus as the Anointed One of God. She was the very first evangelist; because she believed God would keep His promise, her faith was made sight. And when she laid eyes on Him, she told everyone that He was there. That is the work of evangelism, and you and I have that same ministry in the world today.
Someone is looking and longing for hope. Someone needs to know that God keeps His promises. Someone needs you to point them to Jesus. Beloved, there is someone in the world today who needs you to be their Anna. Tell them, “He is here!” Tell them their Savior has come.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yep, it’s my birthday. I’m up to one of those intimidating numbers now and wonder how I got here and what I’m supposed to do now. Does my age change who I am?
To my doctors (yes, I have multiples), I am an older woman who must learn to live with backaches, hips, and knees that hurt, ears that squeal constantly, spots in my eyes, stiff fingers, and dwindling energy and strength. They tell me that a daily nap may be good for me now, although my employer tends to frown on that.
Speaking of which, to my employer, I am a faithful servant who does whatever is asked of me, rides the winds of change with a measure of grace (sometimes), and patiently waits to know if those winds will blow me out of the place.
To the culture, I am an old lady with grey hair, wrinkles, and antiquated ideas. I am a rule follower (that that wasn’t the case in my youth), and worst of all, a rule-pointer-outer.
To my family, I am Sweetheart, mom, and Nana, with a Bible, a cup of coffee, and an open heart (and often an open purse).
My age doesn’t change who I really am, because my Creator says I am a reflection of His image (Gen 1:26), made to reveal Him to the world. He says my place in His creation is to point others to Him and to the cross of His Son, the way He made for all sinners to come to Him.
Age doesn’t change my role as a Bible teacher. The years have seasoned my lessons far more than my seminary education. I can speak of God with the confidence of one who has leaned on Him for many years and through many trials and struggles and always found Him faithful. I live by Isaiah 46:4, which says, “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made yo,u and I will carry you.”
But most of all, the years haven’t diminished my place as a child of God, the daughter of the Most High. He promised, “I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor 6:18),
On this day, I know who I am because I know Whose I am. And age can’t take that away. Beloved, whether you are young or older, if you are in Christ, God is with you every day of every year for as long as you live. Have a cupcake to celebrate with me and thank God for the blessings of life.

Meditation on Simeon’s Hymn (Luke 2:28-32)

In yesterday’s post-Christmas devotional, we met Simeon, a devout and righteous Jewish man who recognized the long-awaited promise of the Lord in the 40-day-old baby boy brought to the temple by his parents. As Jesus often does for those who encounter Him, He inspired great passion in Simeon. The old man held the Child and praised God, saying:
Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You may now dismiss Your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel” (Lk 2:28—32)
This hymn is called the Nunc Dimittis after the phrase, “You may now dismiss” from the Latin Vulgate translation. It is the final addition to the four hymns of Luke’s birth narrative, focusing on God’s faithfulness. Simeon noted that God promised and God fulfilled. The purpose of the man’s life was to be an eyewitness to the coming of the Anointed One who would bring salvation to all nations, both Jew and Gentile.
The Baby was also the fulfillment of God’s promise way back in the Garden. After Adam and Eve’s sin, God declared that the woman’s offspring would crush the serpent’s head, even as evil struck the Holy One’s heel. The woman’s offspring would be Mary’s baby.
Simeon recognized the greater purpose of the Baby in the manger was not just to save Israel or the Gentiles, but “all nations.” Jesus came to save the world. But His mission didn’t start in Bethlehem; it didn’t even begin in the Garden, it was the plan of the ages, devised before God ever said, “Let there be light” (Gen 1:3). John wrote of “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev 13:8).
Simeon came to the temple courts to witness what the world had longed to see: the fulfillment of God’s redemption. Not a rescue from a human enemy, but salvation from every human’s enemy: evil and death. And when he saw the Baby, he rejoiced.
Simeon would tell you that God never forgets His promises. He longed to see God’s salvation. Israel longed for her Messiah. The world longed for freedom. What is the longing of your heart? Hold tight to this, Beloved: God is faithful. The manger, the cross, and the empty tomb are all the proof you need.

The Faith of Simeon

When I study the people who are featured in the Bible, they come alive for me, and I am reminded anew that these were real people in a real time in history under the hand of a real, mighty, holy God.
Like this fellow from Luke’s gospel:
“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was on him” (Lk 2:25). My curiosity wants to know more about Simeon, but the Gospel writer gave us only as much as we needed to know: he was righteous, devout, patient, and enveloped by the Holy Spirit.
Luke went on to say that “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah” The nation of Israel had lived under the long awaited promise of God that He would send the Messiah – the one who was anointed by the Lord to comfort His people as Prophet, Priest, and King. Simeon lived with the promise that he would see the Messiah with his own eyes. And he believed. I imagine that every day he came into the temple courts with great expectation, hoping that this was the day when his faith would be made sight.
I think I discovered the secret to his uncommon trust in the Lord and his great reward. It’s in his name.
Simeon’s name, when traced back to its original Hebrew root, is sama, and means “to hear, listen, understand, and obey.” Simeon, filled with the Holy Spirit, had been assured by God that he would see the Hope of mankind before he died. He listened to God, heard the Lord’s promise, understood its meaning, and followed the Spirit in obedience.
Simeon shows us how to have an extraordinary relationship with God, filled with promises made and kept.
Hear: Put yourself in a position to hear God speak. Even my 6-year-old granddaughter knows that God speaks to us through His Word.
Listen: You and I can hear sounds that vibrate our eardrums, but that doesn’t mean we are listening. Listening implies receiving the message.
Understand: This involves discernment, moral insight, and application. Those who know God through His Word gain understanding.
Obey: Obedience is the outward evidence of our inward faith. Simeon believed in God’s promise. When he was “moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts” (v. 27) and in that act of obedience, he saw Him. The Child. The Anointed One. Messiah.
Beloved, you can have the faith of Simeon if you will hear, listen, understand, and obey the Lord. All His promises are “Yes!” and “Amen!” for those who believe Him.

Bringing Baby Jesus to His Father

In December, our Scripture-writing group paused for an Advent series, preparing our minds and hearts for the coming of the Christ-child, the blessed Baby in the manger. Now that we are on the other side of Christmas Day, we are rounding out the month in Luke 2 as Mary and Joseph came to the temple to present their firstborn son to the Lord in accordance with the Law of Moses. “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord” (Lk 2:23/Ex 13:2, 12).
Let’s explore that a little deeper. After the Israelites escaped Egyptian bondage (Ex 12:31-42), the Lord, through Moses, declared, “every firstborn male of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal” (Ex 13:2). The animals would be sacrificed on the altar. The firstborn human males were presented to the Lord and dedicated to serve Him throughout their lives. This is what Mary and Joseph were tending to as they traveled from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Take a moment to read Luke 2:22-24.
Few people noticed the poor family at a merchant’s booth buying a pair of birds to be sacrificed on their son’s behalf (Lk 2:24). They were just a man, a woman, and an infant in the midst of the crowd. In the next few days, we will meet a man and a woman who did recognize this Baby and glorified God because of Him.
But stay with me in this moment as the mother and father carefully and obediently entered the temple courts to do what the Law required. Lift the eyes of your heart from the scene in Jerusalem to heaven as the angels no doubt gathered around to see the plan of the ages unfolding. See the wonder in their eyes and the awe on their faces. They knew nothing of redemption; mercy and grace were foreign to them. They were amazed at God’s heart and His inexplicable love for His human creation. For “even the angels long to look into these things” (1 Pet 1:12).
Imagine with me, as best we can, the Lord’s face as He gazed at the scene in the temple courts. Mary and Joseph came to His house to present and dedicate to Him His own Son, who came from the highest heavens to do the will of His Father (Heb 10:9). He saw the radiance of His own glory and the exact representation of His being (Heb 1:3) in the sweet little one. I am almost certain He smiled.
The Advent story doesn’t end on Christmas Day. Jesus comes to everyone who believes on Him for forgiveness and everlasting life. When you receive Him as your Savior, Beloved, the Father sees in you His one and only Son. I am certain that He smiles.

Advent 2025: Shepherds and Mary and You

Today’s Advent Scripture is Luke 2:18-20, and it inspired today’s Advent devotional.
Historians say that when a perfect, spotless lamb was born, the shepherd would carefully wrap it in rags to keep it clean and lay it in a manger until it was strong to keep it from injury. Once they were weaned, these lambs would be raised separately from the rest of the flock. Why such special treatment? These were the lambs that would be used in the Passover sacrifice. Tradition says that the shepherds who received the “good news of great Joy” were tending the Passover lambs, so they would immediately recognize the signs they were given of swaddling clothes and the manger.
Church tradition also tells us that Luke wrote the birth narrative from Mary’s own recollections. But I wonder why, with all the other rich details he included, he left so much out. I hope that one of my first conversations in heaven will be with the mother of my Savior. I want to know how those first visitors responded to seeing the baby – the Messiah. I want to know if they bubbled over with excitement, or if they looked on Him in silent awe. Did they tell her all that the angel said? Did they sing the angel’s song? I want to know all the things that Mary stored up in her heart (v. 19).
I hope there is heavenly video of them coming back to the sheepfold with amazement (v. 18) – “glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen” (v. 20). Can you even imagine that scene?
The long-awaited perfect Lamb of God was here. The lives of the man and woman would never be the same. The lives of the shepherds were no doubt changed forever, too. How does the story of the Baby in the manger touch your life? Does it fill you with awe and wonder? Does it inspire you to tell the Good News?
One day, we will all come together around the throne and compare stories. Shepherds and angels and Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, wise men, disciples, the Samaritan woman at the well, former demoniacs, the once blind, lame, sick, deaf, and mute, the atheist turned believer, the little children, the gang members, the elite and wealthy who found the greatest treasure in Jesus, and the impoverished who became rich in Christ. I can’t wait to hear them all. What will your story be, Beloved?

Advent 2025: God’s Love: The Foundation of Hope

While her husband loaded presents into the trunk, the older woman hugged her friend and pressed some folded bills into her hand. “I know this is a hard time, but God is going to come through for you. He has always come through for us.” The woman thanked them both and sighed, “I hope so. I don’t know how much longer we can go on like this.” Then she looked at the pile of brightly wrapped gifts and boxes of food and began to weep. Even with the hard things they had endured that year, God had blessed them over and over. “Keep that hope alive, sweetheart,” the man said as he closed the stuffed trunk. “The Bible says hope will never disappoint you.”
That’s good to know because hope is as essential to the spirit as oxygen is to the lungs. When life is hard, hope seems more of a desperate gesture than a sure belief. Our hope fades, our spirit is weakened, we become disheartened, and our thoughts forlorn. But that is not the hope God offers. The Bible always presents hope as a confident conviction, not a desperate, wishful longing.
The verse the man quoted was from Paul’s letter to the Romans: “Hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts . . .” (5:5). You and I can have that kind of confident hope because we know God loves us. He proved His love at the manger. He proved it again on the cross. Then He sealed the deal at the empty tomb. Need more? John said the Father has lavished great love on us and called us His children (1 John 3:1). He said we can “know and rely on the love God has for us because He is love and His love is perfect (4:16, 18). His love is trustworthy and true. It is a firm foundation for hope. In fact, hope and love are the opposite sides of the same coin.
Beloved, if hope is in short supply right now, I want to remind you that Christmas confirms the power of hope in the love of God. He will not – cannot – betray His love. It is His very essence. I also want to assure you that God does indeed always come through. I was the woman hanging onto a thread of hope. It was my car that was stuffed with Christmas blessings. And my hope was not disappointed. God is faithful. God is love. Christmas is proof.

Advent 2025: Christmas is Love

We’re getting married on December 24th because Christmas is such a romantic time of year – it’s all about love.” The young woman was giddy with the excitement of their engagement and the Christmas wedding she envisioned. Still, I wondered if she really understood the love of Christmas, because Christmas love is God’s love.
Paul best expressed the love of God when he said, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17-19.
How high is the love of God? Psalm 103:11 says, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him.” Man may have climbed to great heights through space exploration, but we have yet to pierce the highest heavens. God’s love exceeds heights man can never reach.
How long is the love of God? Jeremiah 31:3 says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.” God loved us before time began, and He will continue to love us throughout all eternity. His love for you and me will never end.
How deep is the love of God? “Jesus Christ, being in very nature God…made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness…humbled Himself…to death” (Philippians 2:6-8.) Jesus Christ stepped from the glory of heaven and humbled Himself all the way to the depths of the grave for you and me.
How wide is the love of God? “Carrying His own cross, [Jesus] went to the place of the Skull. Here they crucified Him” (John 19:17-18). Jesus willingly stretched His arms out to their full span, so His hands could be cruelly nailed to the cross.
Jesus is the embodiment of Christmas love. He said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Christmas love is far more than romantic love. It is saving love. It is eternal love.
Beloved, you will never be able to measure the love of God, but you can trust it. It’s a firm foundation on which to build your life, and it’s a sweet, soft pillow on which to rest your head at night. It is the heart of Christmas.

Advent 2025 – The Reason for the Season

Luke’s gospel is so rich with details and visuals that I wonder why the verse that tells of the actual birth of Jesus is so low-key. He wrote: “. . . she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger” (Lk 2:7). That is the climax of the nativity story, and more importantly, it is the pinnacle of the redemption story. This is what human history had been leading up to all along.
When we tell the Christmas story, we tend to tell it as if God sent Jesus as a reaction to the sinful, broken state of humanity. But look at the words of the Old Testament prophet: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2). This is a prophecy of the coming Messiah – the Son of God and King over Israel. Did you catch the last line: “whose origins are from of old, from ancient times”? The word “ancient” in Hebrew means eternal. It speaks of the eternal nature of God the Son and the plan that has been in place from before the creation of the world.
God was not taken aback when Eve grabbed for the forbidden fruit. He did not look upon the mess humans had made and conclude that this was the only solution. He did not send His Son in a knee-jerk reaction to man’s sin. The Bible says that Jesus was “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Jesus said that the kingdom was “prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). The plan for redemption – the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ – was established before God ever said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3).
When we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we are celebrating the plan of the ages. We are celebrating – not just the reason for the season – but the reason for creation. When we celebrate Christmas, we are celebrating God’s eternal purpose – to reveal His love. Do you understand what that means for you? Long before your very first sin, God met your need for redemption. The Baby in the manger was not in response to your sin but was given out of His great heart. God was not shocked by your actions. He made the way, Beloved before you needed the way. Because He has loved you from ancient times.