What is your hope for 2024?
Many people make new year’s resolutions. Some succeed in their endeavors, while others fail. In truth, how our lives unfold is unpredictable. You can implement changes that improve your health, spiritual growth, business endeavors, work ethics and goal setting, which can be done easily if you’re willing to make it happen. However, as you embark on this new year, be open to the unexpected. You never know how your life can change.
2023 was a life changer when I walked away from a six-year spiritual path—a devoted and committed new ager who chose to follow Jesus Christ. My life did a complete 180 and it was something I’d never planned or expected. However, I’m eternally grateful for this miraculous change in my life.
Previously, I was a person who set goals on self-evolution, based on abundance in wealth and health from the universe. It was a path that led me away from Jesus into a self-realization phase where I believed I could plan my own destiny. All I had to do was believe and have hope the universe would deliver.
Now, I’m a person who...
embraces my God-given gifts, grateful to have the ability to share those gifts and inspire others to the word of God;
prays to encounter Jesus and learn to love him more and more; and,
places faith and trust in Jesus in every aspect of my life.
Faith, hope, and trust is a powerful thing. Especially when it’s on a person who can almost be defined as supernatural. Jesus is an omnipresent figure. He can enter your dreams, gift you with visions, speak to you in a loving and compassionate voice. Yet you never see Him. In visions, he can be described as a bright glowing light, wearing a white robe. Like how the disciples, Peter, John, and James saw him as Jesus prayed on a mountain:
Jesus is the light that rescues you from the darkness. Your faith in Him can deliver you from the inequities in your life and change you from the inside out.
I recently attended an Alpha Course. A course that teaches you about who God is, what the Bible is, and the life of Jesus Christ.
In one of the series, Gram Seed was featured. His story is a miraculous story of healing and forgiveness you’d never think possible. But nothing is impossible for God when you have hope, faith, and trust.
Gram Seed was accused of murder at the age of 15. Sadly, when he was released from custody, he was angrier than when he arrived. His mother called him the son of Satan. He loved to fight and became a hooligan. He had his face slashed, his finger cut off, was stabbed four times in the arm and chest, his arms were pulled out of its socket. He believed he was sheer evil, and lived like he was.
He lived on the streets, became addicted to alcohol, drugs, barely ate, unaware the insides of his body were shutting down as he was malnourished and dehydrated. In March of 1996, a Christian man and woman approached him and told him Jesus loves him. He chased them away.
He continued to see these Christian men and women for six months.
But it didn’t change who he was. He started each day with drink, drugs, until he collapsed. He was rushed to hospital and comatose for six days. He passed away on the sixth day and his last rights were given. Then the Christian men and women he’d seen over the past six months asked if they could pray over him. His mother questioned their request as Gram was dead and didn’t see the purpose.
They placed their hands on his head and prayed ‘in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth give this man new life’. Gram woke up, sat up and pulled the mask away from his mouth.
His healing was more than miraculous. He woke up a different person. He knew for certainty; he’d never drink or take drugs again. In his heart, he wanted to help people. He believed he’d gone mad, as this was a complete change of character from whom he was.
To this day, he clearly remembers the date and time he gave his heart to Jesus. It was November 9, 1996, at a quarter to three. As he uttered the words to invite Jesus into his heart, tears flowed, and he couldn’t stop. He instantly knew at that moment who he was and what he needed to do. At 10:00 pm, he went back to the streets where he lived, full of Jesus, and began his 19-year ministry in telling others about Jesus on the streets and in prisons. Some questioned his transformation and asked if he simply woke up from a coma. His response, how was he able to live the way he had for 19 years, where did the violence go, where did the anger and rejection of not knowing about love go, moreover, where did it go in one night?
Jesus transforms lives. Gram is one of many that have been given hope and a new life—renewed, refreshed, washed clean, and ready to serve the Lord.
The Alpha course delves deep into questions about the legitimacy of the Bible, did Jesus really rise after the third day, how do we overcome evil, and who and what is the Holy Spirit. It’s a course you can take free online if you have questions and want to learn more.
So, as you prepare for this New Year, with hopes and goals, keep in mind nothing is for certain. Our lives can be disrupted, derailed off course, however, what’s important is how you react and actions you take.
My hope for you...always choose the good in life. Never doubt and keep your faith strong.
Happy New Year!
Hi, I’m Cathy.
A blogger, photographer, author, passionately driven to pointing people away from new age indoctrination to find redemption in Jesus Christ.
I’m a mixed blend, excited to share all I offer...
Do you find yourself asking questions about new age, whether the practices and beliefs are leading your soul to redemption?
As a reformed new ager, I was saturated in the belief I could co-create with the universe and manifest a life of abundance. But I was deceived. This blog is to point you to the truth of God’s words and how He perceives the new age indoctrination.
Fine Art Photography
I always dreamed of being a professional photographer when I grew up. It was a journey to reach this goal, but I did it!
I owned a home-based studio for over a decade but have been shooting images for two decades. Now, semi-retired, I have a collection of my most cherished images of landscape or nature available for wall décor.
