My Dearest You,

HAPPY NEW YOU in this New Year!!!

The Word of the Year for me is DECIDE, because after every decision follows an action.

You can lay in bed all day, but when you DECIDE to get up, what do you do? You get up. If you DECIDE to get a job, what do you do? You update your resume, put in applications, learn something new to help improve your chances of getting a job. If you DECIDE to lose weight, what do you do? You start watching what you eat, exercising more. Even if it’s for a little while, or for some of us one day. But you do it. Why? Because you DECIDED to.

Actions follow a decision.

Think about it. Every time you say the word “DECIDE”, the word “TO” usually comes right after it. Yep, think about it. I decided to. We decided to. They decided to. That means that after every decision an action is inevitable. Even if you DECIDE to do nothing. That’s the action you will take. The action of doing nothing. Because believe it or not, nothing is an action. What are you doing? Nothing. The act of doing no thing, but the fact that you are still breathing nothing is in motion.

As for me, I’m not going to come up with a bunch of thoughtless resolutions that don’t mean much, and that I don’t stick to. This is what I DECIDED:

• To Continually Say “Yes” To God
• To Love Others As God Loves Me
• To Be All That God Has Created Me To Be
• To Help Make A Difference In My Family And Community
• To Go And Make Disciples

What have you DECIDED to do this year?

My Dearest You,

What do you believe the difference between confidence and courage?

This is something that came to me during my quiet time with God.

Confidence is a deep knowing of self.

You know what you can do. You believe in what you can do. You trust in what you can do, so you have confidence.

Courage, however, is confidence in yourself because you know and trust God. It's a deep knowing of who God is, what God can do, AND that God's word is true. You know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God will do what he says he will do, and that what he says he will do applies to you. Nothing or no one can get you to believe anything different.

You can't have courage unless you trust AND know God. You can have confidence, but you can't have courage, because courage is a mind shift. You go from knowing what YOU can do, to trusting and knowing what GOD can do through you.

Courage is deeply knowing and trusting God. It's not surface level or superficial trust and knowing OF God. It's trust IN God and deeply knowing God.

Courage allows you to walk different.
Courage lets you talk different.
Courage makes you BE different.

So many times in the Bible God tells us do not fear. Do not be afraid. What's the opposite of fear?

It's not confidence, because even when you have confidence that you can do something, you still have a little bit of fear or doubt that things might not turn out right.

The opposite of fear is COURAGE.

God says, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9

Let me break it down like this:

• Confidence - you believe in you.
• Courage - you believe in you because you know God and trust that God is for you.
• Faith - you believe God even if you don't believe in you.

Have courage in all you do.