By Lois Hewitt

The new year just keeps rolling along.  I decided to try something a little different in order to continue growing as a person. 

I used to write down everything I wanted to accomplish in a year and, foolishly, expected to do all of it right away.  This was inevitably followed by massive amounts of disappointment.

This year, I am going to spread the ideas I have for change over the entire year, in month sized bites. Each month, I will commit to a “do more” item and a “do less” item.  With the intent of having developed those items as habits by the months end.

For January, I plan to do less doom scrolling on the Internet and do more gratitude.  I wrote these goals in my planner along with one financial goal for the month lest I forget.

I want to do so much more this year, but I have found trying to do it all at once is not a recipe for success.

I started eating better and cooking from scratch slowly. Now I am in the third year of that change.  It was successful because I did not expect to be Jamie Oliver or Martha Stewart all in one day.  I rode the wave of change slowly, really learning about it as I went.  Now it’s second nature.

Growing, although an essential part of living, in and of itself is not an easy task.  It requires forethought and dedication. I think that’s why trying to do all your resolutions at once is a disaster because it is simply too exhausting.

The old adage goes…how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  Older age has not only brought me some wisdom but also an understanding of the importance of moderation.

My youth was full of excess and gluttony.  I wanted to drink everything all at once. I wanted to eat everything all at once. I wanted to spend everything all at once.  I wanted to change everything all at once.  I can tell you that is a horrible way to live. I knew no peace or joy.  I walked around like a failure all the time.  I was exhausted and defeated.

Moderation is a beautiful thing. It allows for a consistent and sustainable change.  When I was up to my neck in manic-depression, I found the manic times to be the most disturbing because there was no in between. Today moderation and intent are my life’s blood.

I am an example that change and growth are both possible. I say that not because I am special in any way but because I did it wrong for literally decades but finally found some clarity.

The path of change and growth does not end until the last breath is used.  So no matter my success, there is always more to do.  At least now, I am moving forward and so can you if you intently and meticulously strive for it. 

I gave up many times. Please do not give up.  Stop beating yourself up and take one step forward.  The size of the step matters not, just that it’s in the direction of forward. If I can make strides, you can too!

By Lois Hewitt

The chill of winter came overnight. Part of the week, I leave for work just after 6 am.  Which means now it’s dark and cold.

When I got into my car this morning, the temperature outside was 19 degrees. Please remember I lived most of my life in the Snow Belt. There were winters were 19 degrees was shorts weather.  But I ran away, fast, from those winters of sub-zero temps and feet of snow dropped in one event.

In the South, we still get a little winter but not like what I used to live with.

As I sat in my car, waiting for the thick ice on the window to melt (I refuse to buy an ice scraper), the car, for that brief moment, became all the world I could see.  I could not see outside and there was not much to see as it was dark.  My world got small and quiet.

No other people did I see. It was just me and a few small lights reflecting from the dashboard. Because it was so cold, I stayed in my own little world for quite some time.  Then slowly the windshield started to clear and my vision of the world grew.

No longer was it just me, but the neighbor also leaving for work, a man walking his dog and a few more houselights turned on as the world began to wake up.

Then all at once, my view was clear and I could see in front, in back and all around at my neighborhood. 

It made me think that so many times, we only see our small little world.  There is nothing wrong with that, as long as we also realize there is much more going on that we cannot see.

So it is with God.  Many times I only see my pain or my need or my situation.  In those times, I often forget that there are plans in play that I cannot see.  God’s plans very rarely reveal themselves in the immediate. There is often a time of waiting, a time of patience needed. 

I fell into despair for many years before God delivered me. I was sure He was ignoring me, if He even existed at all.  All I could feel was my mental illness and my anxiety and my pain. 

I had no idea where He was going to take me.  I would not have believed it, even if I had known.  The trip to here was a wild one with twists and turns never expected.  And as long as I have a breath to take, the journey isn’t over.

The next time I get to a place of smallness and I just can’t see further than just in front of me, I will remember the iced over window blocking my view and then it clearing to expand my view.

Sometimes you just have to scrape the window to see better.  God’s plans are epic and we have to have faith in them if we want to walk with Him.  I know the waiting is unbearable at times, but you never know when the windshield will clear showing you the road ahead.

I’m off to buy a scraper so that I can have a bigger view of the world around me.  Stay strong, my friend, God will not forsake His children!

By Lois Hewitt

The new year is upon us.  A clean slate.  A fresh page. A new start.

So this year I proclaim as my year of warrior prayer.  More prayer for my loved ones and for the world.  More prayer for those in need.  Just simply more prayer.

I suspect that national and world events may be a bit volatile this coming year.  I realize that I have no influence on the world’s stage but I do in my small circle.

As I have said many times before, prayer to me was more like a wish list. I hoped for this and wished for that.  Now I realize the power of a prayer.  It is a super power.

Prayer, along with faith, can change lives. It can move obstacles. It makes a difference because of the One to whom we pray.  The time of the Lord is coming closer with each passing day. Now is the time to pray for a world that does not know Him and for all His children in need.

Prayer used to be a chore I had to do and checked it off my list.  Now I see it as a privilege to communicate with Jesus. I can say anything or say nothing.

Not only does prayer bring about change, it strengthens the bond between God and man.  That is exciting to me. I was lukewarm for too long, now I want to recognize the power and the gift God has given us all in the form of prayer.

From this day forth, may my prayers be that of someone who loves God and believes that my small utterances fall upon the ear of the Creator of all.

I almost lost my faith a few times, I thought prayer was just a way to placate people.  I was wrong. It is power and strength.  It can change a world…

By Lois Hewitt

Okay, here is a follow up to my last post if anyone is interested. So this week I decided to go “all in” with God. Let go of my worry and fears and trust Him.  I need to have a deeper faith than what I have had…

The other night I had a long conversation with God. I explained my fears about letting go of my control and pointed out exactly what I am afraid of.

After my prayer, I fell into a really deep sleep.  I had some weirdo dream about a giant pizza and a bunch of neon lights. That’s all I remember. No idea what that meant.

I woke up yesterday and thought I would feel refreshed. Instead something happened to my left eye and it’s all wonky and my body is shaky.  I don’t feel sick but I don’t feel great and now my right eye is twitching.  And I’m full of doubt.

I asked God kindly if it would have been too much to ask for just one good day after my declaration.  Not one good day, I was deflated.

Then the small, still voice inside me asked if I still had faith.  Did my physical discomforts outweigh my spiritual growth?  Was I just going to go back to being lukewarm or was this time going to be victorious regardless of my comfort level?

I sighed and realized that at similar points like this in my past, when I did not get my way, when the road actually got rougher, I would automatically retreat back into my shell and start trying to control things again.

I decided this time would be different. I will stand firm in my faith that all things, not just the good things, work for my best.  I was never promised health always, money unboundingi  or anything meant to ease my life.

Being a Christian is hard work.  You see yourself much more critically.  You feel your sin more.  You grieve over the past, and have concerns for now and the future.  You worry about a world spinning out of control.

But placing your faith in God and the promises He gave His children in His Word ease the pain and suffering. Putting your faith in something bigger than yourself frees you from the worry because you know how it all ends (or really restarts). 

I decided to forego my comfort zone and trust the One who created all life.  There will be challenges that I’m not particularly anticipating but what good is faith if you never have to lean on it?

So today as I struggle with a few new things, I will stand firm in my faith and try not to complain too much.

Faith is not true faith if you never depend on it during times of need. I had wishful thinking, not all in faith.  I will stay strong only because He gives me the strength and I will be a Victor rather than a victim!

By Lois Hewitt

As we get closer and closer to another year, I need to change my thinking. Not a resolution that will be forgotten the first time I am overbusy or overstressed. Not a plan to do something but something I absolutely need to do.

I have a “what if” personality.  What if I don’t remember to do something on my never-ending list of things to do?  What if I say or do the wrong thing?  What if I go outside with people and start to panic?  What if I run out of money, food, jobs…etc?  What if the our country implodes? What if…what if…what if…

This “what if” personality trait was once somewhat useful. When I was trying to find my way, I used those “what ifs” to help me decide paths and decisions.  I used that relentless mindset to help me gain more responsible traits. It made me grow up.  But now it is working against me.

My latest Bible study is about prayer and I am surprised at how much I did not know. One of the main topics in the study is faith. We must, if we are going to please God, have faith in Him…all in, no parts of our life should be without faith in God.  This is when my latest light bulb went on.

My “what if” mentality has really kept me from having a strong faith in God.  I did not realize it but I had faith but also kept my hands in the pie of my life thinking the control I (thought) I had was keeping me sane.

Well, that control kept me walking on eggshells in life and with God. Somehow I thought I could manipulate the outcomes in my life by worrying about them.  I thought my existence was a result of my manifesting worry over my life. Worse case scenarios rarely occur and I thought I was keeping the wolves at bay.

When you live in fight or flight mode, there is little room for faith. I could not see, hear, smell, taste or feel it so I could not allow myself to believe it fully.

Now with that said, I did/do have faith in God. I believe He is real and that His Son, Jesus, died for me and that Heaven is a real place. But it was in the every day life I just could not let go of my control aka worry.

When you don’t have faith in God, you basically are saying that the situations in your life are just too much for God. I have to keep control or I will spin out of control.  That is as backwards as any thinking.

My holding onto “what ifs” stole from me.  Stole my joy.  Stole my options.  Kept me from moving forward. And kept me at arms length from God. 

Funny thing, is of late, I thought I was getting my spiritual house in order. But I was still tiptoeing around with a pit in my stomach waiting for something bad to happen.  I lost my optimism, my joy and I become excessively overwhelmed.

So starting right now and as I head into the new year, my goal is to put the “what ifs” where they belong…in the trash.  I need to recalibrate my faith to be at the feet of God.  He has gotten me this far, not me.  He has protected me when my choices were frankly not safe.  He brought me to a place where I am learning and realizing. That is in Whom my faith should be.

The “what ifs” are a manipulation tactic by the evil one to keep you in your minds own prison. My minds prison sentence was beginning to look like a life sentence but I have been pardoned by the One who gives His children life abundantly.

The next time I speak of faith, my knowledge of it will be more complete and, hopefully, it will be my new mindset as I grow closer to God.

By Lois Hewitt

And just like that Christmas is over. Done are all the decorations. Gone are the parties and get togethers. Thrown away is the wrapping paper. The leftovers have been eaten or frozen for another meal.  All the hoopla is done. All over in one 24 hour period.

When I was young I dreaded Christmas because I loved it so much. But I hated it more when it was over. As a child I would be depressed when the lights were taken down, the ornaments were boxed up and the silver tree taken down and returned to its dark slumber in the attic.  I was filled with such sadness.

I learned early on in life that all good things end.  For everything I ever looked forward to, I also anticipated its end. Many times this clouded the event itself because my thoughts were already over it.

Anticipatory grief it’s called. When you mourn the loss of something that will go away.  It usually is meant for those who grief someone’s passing that hasn’t passed yet.  As a young child,  I mourned my parents passing every time they were late getting home or when I did not know where they were. I anticipated and grieved the worst in every scenario. Then they would come home and I was relieved and exhausted at the same time.

Christmas was always an anticipated loss for me. I knew it would be over so I never really was able to enjoy it.  Much of life was that way for me. I’m not sure how the wiring in my brain works but I am pretty sure that there are a few wires not fully connected.

Today I see things a bit differently. Christmas is more than a day of lights, gifts and cookies. It is a day when we celebrate the greatest gift the world has ever received. The birth of Jesus. 

I realize now that the birth was only the beginning.  There was a life of teaching and leading by example. There was a lifetime of love and joy given. 

Then as we know from Easter, that life came to an end. Beaten and broken and hung on a cross, the human body passed. But three days later, the Spirit arose and that is something that will never end.

I see Christmas now as a beginning.  Yes, the flash and show ends every year but the meaning of it lasts long after the gifts are gone, long after the the calendar mores forward. Jesus does not go away. He is not put in a box stowed away for another year. He is alive today and will be tomorrow.

There is no anticipatory grief that can be associated with Jesus. He is not going anywhere, He already defeated death and He promises to be with His children always.

So if you are a little sad that the Christmas season for another year has passed, remember the true meaning of Christmas. There is no need to be sad for His children are forever cloaked in His perfect love. 

By Lois Hewitt

To all my friends and family,  may your Christmas be a merry one.  May you be filled with the love of the One we celebrate. May you re-see the beauty of the world.

He came to this earth to show the way of love, mercy and grace. His gift to the world is salvation and eternal life.

Not life without problems or consequence.  His gift on the cross allows us to be pure for the day we meet face to face, we will be held in His arms as His children.

The road can be tough but I promise you that you are never alone as long as you know Him.

My Christmas wish this year is that all my friends and family experience His love, mercy and grace.  Stop listening to the unending chatter of the world and bask in His peace. Look to Him in times of trouble and times of plenty.  Feel the gratitude even for the things that hurt. For all things are meant for our good.  I know it may not seem like it today but wait as His plan unfolds.

My wish for you is health during illness. Peace during uncertainty. Mercy and grace for missteps.  Redemption for our sins.

May your hearts be full of the love Jesus has for you. May His light and favor shine down upon you today and every day forth.

On a personal note, thank you to everyone who has read my words, overlooked the grammatical errors and misused words, and took a moment to encourage me. I can never express my gratitude. Thank you my friends.

I pray you grow closer to Jesus in 2024. As the world issues unravel, remember He is the Victor!

By Lois Hewitt

Back in the early 80s, I was in my early 20s and newly married (1st husband). Determined to put the reckless days of my youth behind me.  I wanted the life my friends had…the doting husband, a baby or two, family vacations, and a picket fence.  But the course of my life was not heading that way.

I would take the 30 minute ride to a big town to visit the closest Christian bookstore. I was desperate for advice on how to have that idealic life.  I would browse the Family section for hours. Nothing quite spoke to me.  I did eventually find a few books on infertility issues.  I grabbed them up and ran home to read how to change my life.

As I read them, I realized that even if we had the one thing in common, not much else was familiar to me.  But I plowed through determined to pray better, do better and whatever better so I could achieve my ideal life.

In the books I read about the struggles of infertility along with all they went through, at the end, all had gotten pregnant and got the life they so desperately wanted. So would I, I assumed myself.

I tried all the things they did but to no avail.  I thought I must not be doing the Christian stuff right.  Maybe I was undeserving because of my past.  I was just sure that life would to come, I just wasn’t working hard enough.

Along comes a divorce and a little later a new marriage (there are only two…lol).  This had to be the change I needed. But as the years came and went, a baby never did. 

If I couldn’t be good enough to deserve that life, I basically gave up. I switched gears and lived a life of reckless spending, eating and drinking.  I did spend some time mad at God but mostly ashamed of myself for yet another failure in my life. My failure count was ever growing.

Now is a different time for me. The best realization I could have ever come to was that each of our roads are different. My life was not guaranteed to end up like the lives in the Christian books I read or like I thought my friends lives were like or like anything I saw in movies.

Just because you do this or that, the outcome is not inevitable the way you envision it. Each of our lives is similar in certain ways but there is a uniqueness that is not duplicated. Our paths are our own and will not be like anyone else’s

Trying to be good and trying to live like someone else did not work I found.  Once I gave up the need for an ideal life I was able to understand that a real relationship with Jesus is what I needed. Not to get my wish granted but to change my life completely.  Gratitude replaced entitlement. Peace replaced chaos. Real love replaced fake love.  Forever joy replaced temporary happiness.

As I look back on the person I was, all I see is desperation.  I wanted an unrealistic thing.  I wanted someone else’s story instead of my own.

Giving up in that was the best thing that could have happened to me. Accepting God’s “no” to many of my requests was the game changer. My life has its own purpose. It has its own set of challenges and rewards. The same is true of yours, my friend.  We each have a different path, no one greater than another, but all individual.

One of my greatest gifts was the realization that I no longer had to conform to some preconceived notion of what my life needed to look like. My life today is nothing like I thought it would look like all those decades ago. Would I trade my life, my faith or who I am now?  Not for all the money in the world! 

Is my life all kittens and candy corn?  No, of course not.  Tough times come, insecurity comes, doubt comes but my true faith in God sustains me through the challenges and lifts me up to the mountain tops. Giving up on the ideal has allowed me to live a life better than I ever imagined.

By Lois Hewitt

Good vs evil. It’s the epic struggle of all time. I have always been drawn to the, for lack of a better term, anti-hero. The one who doesn’t intend on being the hero but is because of a strong and unwavering moral compass.

Last night I started watching the second season of Reacher. The character lives a simple life without many things, is a loner and does the right thing without even a second thought.  Other anti-heroes I adore are Walt Longmire, Raylan Givens and Dean Winchester. All are good in a very flawed sort of way but are selfless to the core.

I wonder why these types of characters resonate with so many people.  Is it because with them good always triumphs over evil?  The big, bad corporation falls to the ground in a blaze of righteousness.  The evil oppressor gets their due in a hail of justice. Yes, the victor is the good one.

These same heroes who take out the evildoers are also full of unrestrained compassion. Reacher saves a neglected dog.  Walt Longmire helps an injured horse. Dean Winchester is a sucker for the underdog. 

We, as a society, have always needed heroes. Ancient mythology is full of heroic characters going up against insurmountable odds. Fairy tales, old and new, are teeming with victors of the oppressed. And we love them and repeat the stories age to age.

We need to see right win over wrong. I think it is inherent in human DNA. Obviously, there are those who have rewired that genetic code.  For unfortunately good is not recognized without its counterpart of bad.  Just like the light that chases away the darkness, so is good vs. evil.

As much as I enjoy a story told of an anti-hero, I must recognize the greatest of all of them, Jesus.  He was so hated by the establishment and so loved by those who were (are) in need.  Jesus broke bread not with the high end church types, but with the sick, the criminal and the morally bankrupt.

Jesus knew His purpose. To heal the sick and infirmed. To give hope to the burdened. To give peace to the troubled. To give love to the lonely. His mission for His time on earth was one of love and preparation for His return. 

And return He will. He will make right all the wrongs. He will have His vengeance on the evil ones. His return will play out like any vengeance movie, but multiplied.

My love for Jesus started because He loved me first. He saved my from my evil nature. He comforted me when I cried and set me on the right path.  But now I see that He is more than that (which would be enough) but He is the Hero we long for and need to save us from an evil much bigger than we.

The anti-hero always has detractors and sceptics. Those who will come up with anything to discredit them but our anti- Hero  is unfazed by the negativity. Those who believe in the power of the Hero (no longer can He be characterized as anti) will stand firm for Him.

Like in any good episode, the Hero takes some beating, giving evil a sense of victory but it is short lived. When you feel defeated and oppressed and don’t know if you can go on, remember you have the greatest of all Heroes in your corner. Look to Jesus for victory and He will show you wonders never imagined.

As much as we love Walt, Raylan and Dean, Jesus is the only one worthy of our praise and adoration. He alone is the Hero we yearn for. He will not disappoint.

By Lois Hewitt

In the darkness and stillness of the night, after my body has had enough sleep, my eyes open and the cogs in my brain start turning.

This morning my thoughts went to a scene in The Chosen.  The scene where a large crowd of people came to Jesus for healing, for miracles.  I watched the scene unfold, not giving it much thought other than what was on the surface.

That was a few weeks ago and a few Bible study lessons ago.  This morning I realized the significance of the scene, one in which Jesus hardly appeared. The scene showed all the people who came for a miracle healing.

Would they have believed Jesus if not for the miracles?  Obviously we have an advantage in this age of, believe or not, of having heard of Jesus. In the first century things were different but the question is still the same, would they have believed in Jesus without the miracles?

Enter faith.  Faith is the belief in things not seen.  How could those first century people have faith in something as radical as Jesus?  How does faith fit into today’s world?

In retrospect, the scene almost seemed like a circus of sorts.  Come see the amazing Healer.  See for yourself the miracles.  But isn’t faith believing without seeing?

In my life, I have asked and begged Jesus to do “tricks” to get me out of jams and get things I wanted. Proud of that, I am not.  But my knowledge of faith was that of a baby. I could not possibly understand, at that time, the true meaning of faith.

In the last few years, I have grown in my faith and I have learned so much more.  I see how easy it is to just want to see the show of it. To wish/pray for things.  But it is so much more than that.

Let’s face facts.  The story of creation is way too big for most of us to comprehend. The Old Testament accounts are not of the world we know today.  If I am honest, sometimes I wonder if it can be true, then add forgiveness of sins and eternal life and my mind is blown.

So I guess as new Christians we need a little of that “miracle show” to believe but as we grow so does our real faith.  I cannot see my sin scorecard with all my sins erased but I do believe it to be so.  I cannot imagine eternal life but I do believe it will be.

That is the faith we are called to have. Believing in things not seen.  Just as my lungs and heart work, without my specific knowledge of said work, I believe they do.  I cannot fathom the power of God, it is too big for me.  I cannot physically see Him but I know He is there and that a life is coming that I also cannot comprehend.

My faith today no longer needs the side show.  My miracles, forgiveness and eternal life, though not seen have been given to me and all believers. 

I no longer need to see the miracles to believe in the One who does them.  That is the faith we are called to live.  The faith that says I don’t understand why this happened but I know it will be for Your will. The faith that simply says “thank You” and no other request.

God answers our prayers in His way for us and our true faith in Him is our way of Honoring His gifts.