In Jeremiah 24:7b, the Lord says, "I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart."

Next door to me lives a very sweet little girl named Hannah. On the nights leading up to Christmas, I lit up my tree and opened my dining room curtains so that it could be seen from her bedroom window next door. It's so wonderful to spread Christmas blessings wherever we can. When God's pure joy fills our hearts and His great love warms us, we can share it with others. I pray you had a wonderful celebration of the birth of our beautiful Savior.

Dear Friends and Family,

Are you a follower of Jesus who is praying for a son or daughter who is currently not interested in God's will for their life? For years I have prayed to God that my son would return to Him and follow Him whole-heartedly. Many times I wept and agonized over him, putting me in a very sad, depressed state.

Recently the Lord has given me wonderful, glorious freedom in praying for my son. No, I know God is at work in his life but the change is in me. This is it: I am praying loving Scripture to the Lord and claiming the promises from His Word for my son. For instance, I pray "Lord, what a joy to know that You are the same today as You were centuries ago in Jeremiah's day when You promised to rescue Your people in a hopeless looking situation when the enemy seemed to have prevailed. I love the words You spoke to them in Jeremiah 24:7 - 'Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.' I rejoice that I can count on You to do this in my son's life. You will do valiantly and trample down his spiritual enemies. In Jesus' name, amen."

It just fills me with hope and joy that God is at work and will accomplish His will, whether it happens in my lifetime or beyond it. I am filled with gratitude to God and am so encouraged with the many Scriptures that contain promises from God that we can rely on. Here are some others that I pray for my son:

a) Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."

b) Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

c) John 10:27-28 "My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."

God's Word is full of wonderful promises. Look through His Word and pray a loving, encouraging Scripture for your son or daughter. Then you can rejoice that God is actively at work in their lives - whether you see it or not. When God is at work in a person's life, they are not always keen on sharing that with you, but you can be absolutely sure of God's promises and His ability to supernaturally accomplish His Word.

Maybe you have never received God's wonderful gift that He offers you today - relationship with Him through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. If that is your case as you read this blog, I pray the following Scriptures for you:

1) John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

2) I Timothy 2:3-4 "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

3) II Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning His promises, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."

Thank you for praying for me. Perhaps you could pray that (a) God would continue His healing work in my body, (b) He would help me do my work well as I look forward to my retirement date of November 1, 2012, and (c) I would walk very close to Jesus throughout each day.

Standing under His wings,

Jane