Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:14-15)
Simply put, I love this verse. It loudly proclaims Joshua’s single-minded focus to love and serve the one true God, with no qualifications or restrictions (i.e. “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord…but only if he does X, Y, and Z!”). No restriction was added, because Joshua was blessed enough to know that no restriction was needed. How blessed are all those that have come to the same place in their lives?!
Through the grace of God, I count myself greatly blessed to be one of those people. I turned over the keys of my life to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, long ago, and there they shall forever remain. No trial, no suffering, no hardship will ever make me veer from Him, and none ever will.
Unfortunately, the year 2006 was a year filled with many of those trials, but I embraced them all knowing that I had the Lord to guide my family and I through it – day by day, moment by moment. Hopefully, 2007 will be a brighter year, but if not I still will take joy in serving Him, and Him alone.