Every year for the last two decades or so, our church has hosted a 21 day fast. Each year is a little different, but each year is a time of deep spiritual introspection for our church, as each of us fast and take time to pray privately And corporately.
This this year, we are partnering with The Worship Room House of Prayer in our hometown of Winchendon. The Worship Room is hosting three hours a day of prayer for the next 21 days.
I just came from my first two hour prayer session of this fast. I am sensing that this year. God will use this fast to prepare us for a move of supernatural signs and wonders, miracles to take place over the coming year.
I do believe miracles happen. I also believe they are about to happen to us.
The Hub is the social arm of our local community action center. It is a refashioned bowling alley and snack shop that is being used to bring our community together.
Tonight, they held a New Year’s bowling tournament.
The place was packed. It was a great Community mixer.
The holidays are over. We now head into the deep of winter here in New England. It is time to batten down the hatches for a few months.
I have defrocked the tree and put it into its box. The ornaments are ready to go back into storage.
I still have windows to plastic and some work to do down in the cellar to get ready for the real cold that is coming in over the next few weeks and hopefully the snow. We really need some snow to get rid of this drought.
I have a huge pile of brush to burn, but right now I think we are still in a fire ban until January 15.
I also have three rooms to put back together upstairs at the Vicarage. The holidays kind of turned them into catchall spaces. It’s time to rectify that and to get ready for the Spring.
I am sitting at the dining table eating left over Chinese food, thinking about the year past and the year ahead.
2024 was a hard year. I don’t think I have really stopped to meditate on just how hard it was. I certainly haven’t allowed myself to feel the hardness. It was a year of death and a year of sickness for our family. It was a year that brought earth shaking change to our lives, identities and ministries. We are not the same people we were at the end of 2023.
Last night we celebrated the New Year as a family at The Vicarage.
New Year’s Eve was our gift exchange this year. I got designer coffee! My son Joe got tools. The kids got play dough and toys. The ladies got winter clothing. James got a book he had been wanting to read. It was a good night topped off by our traditional meal…. Chinese food
It was also a game night.
To say I am not a good game player is an understatement, but other members of the family are. It was a quiet and comforting way to spend the last day of this very difficult year.
Today I am catching up on chores, and putting Christmas away. As I write this note between loads of laundry I am thinking about what the Lord has already told us about 2025.
My personal words for the year are: PRACTICE THE PRESENCE…
Here are some other things we have learned about 2025 from the last few months of 2024.
Amanda has heard- Focus and Watch. 1 Peter 5:8 State alert for your great enemy the Devil stalks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Focus on the right thing not similar distractions because there will be good things and God things. See the potential particularly in our children. Don’t overlook the small things in life or neglect the potential of small things. Watch is the word, Gregorio. Its definition is- Keeping your eyes on the truth.
James has heard- We are children of THE KING. The time has come to act like it. We are an already not yet people. We have the victory but we now have to posses this in the Spirit. We need to use our spiritual authority.
Kristine has heard-Dwell! Dwell in the presence of the Lord and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Claim the victory. Psalm 139 teaches us that God is all knowing.He knows every detail of our lives and even when we don’t see it, He is working in our lives. We need to remember that He knows the end of our stories and the progress of the journey.
Yesterday my sister and I were on Messenger talking and this prophetic word came –
And this is what the Lord says, open your eyes, I am bringing you into a spacious place. This is the culmination of over a half a century of My work. I have hidden this from the enemy as I have hidden this from you, but this is about neither of you and both of you. The enemy can see the size and shape of this thing, but even he does not know what it is any more than you know what it is. you were chosen for this. your family was chosen for this. You each have your part to play. I have prepared you. I have called you by name. Now prepare yourselves. Gird yourselves and answer me like a human, where were you when I laid the foundations of the storehouses of the snow?
Notes From the Vicarage 