Dear Me

A letter to myself for the new year

Word count:1171

Dear me,

Because you are a believer of Jesus Christ and accept that He is your Lord, as well as your Savior, He has several goals for you this year. He wants you to organize a few Faith-based counselor training classes at several churches in the Metroplex. This should provide for enough people to have the opportunity to gain much-needed skills to provide the general public, people who hurt, who feel lost, to work their way to Him through learning Biblical steps that can help them heal and find freedom. The training needs to be organized in such a manner that the layperson will not find it difficult to learn the provided curriculum and be able to apply it in their lives. As well, all those who finish successfully and are certified as Faith-based Christian Counselors should be made aware that you and your ministry team will be there to provide support for them in their counseling endeavors. This can be accomplished via advanced training, as well as, them knowing that they can call on your greater knowledge and experience when they need help during counseling situations.

Along with that, your Lord wants you to write and publish at least three more books that these new counselors can use in their daily ministry as they minister to those who go to them for help. These books should be done in both English and in Spanish, as many of those who the Lord will send to you and the newly certified counselors will speak both those languages, with most of them speaking and understanding only, or mostly, Spanish. These books should be made available to the general public at a low cost so that those who truly need help will not be denied it because of the cost of a book. On top of that, the Lord wants you to make your books, new and older ones, available to the counselors at practically cost. Counselors whose hearts are set on ministering to the hurting should not be hampered in the quest because an author wants to get rich. Our Lord wants you to make this sacrifice because it will give Him glory.

Beyond that, He wants you to continue to train the members of your ministry even more so. Each person you train, teach, disciple, and prepare will go on to minister to many others in their lives as have the many you have already discipled and trained over the last thirty years. You have been correct to have thought of yourself as a boot camp sergeant (train them and send them out). You have prepared pastors, leaders, counselors, and laborers in the ministry of your Lord. You are not yet finished, though you may feel tired at times. You can get time to rest when you finally go home. In the meantime, He wants you to disciple and train more men and women. He will be sending you some more this year. Get those you already have with you ready for those who are coming.

Spend time with your wife. Yes, the Lord knows you will complain that there does not seem to be enough time for that, but He wants you to make the time. He wants you to love Him through her. He knows that you struggle with displaying emotion, feeling warm and fuzzy inside sometimes, so He wants you to practice this by loving Him through her. Show her love, be patient when she riles your whiskers, and be gentle when you grow angry. The Lord loves you so much, and He understands your struggle with emotion, but He loves that you prove your love for Him by your obedience to Him. So, love your wife, if not always by how you feel, then more so by obeying God and doing the things that she likes, that make her feel loved, that makes her feel safe with you. The Lord understands your willingness to obey Him regardless of “feelings,” and that pleases Him greatly, but He wants for you to show your obedience to Him in such a way that your wife will always know that you are there for her. That she will know that you will never leave her and that you will never forsake her. To love her is to love Him.

As if this is not enough, your Lord wants you to care for yourself as well. Your health is important. You need your body so that you may obey Him this year. He wants you to love your body. To love your body by working diligently at staying as healthy as possible. While it is true that you do not have total control of what your health will be, you do have enough. Yes, He knows that last year was a terrible year for your health, but He wants me to remind you that He was by your side through all that you went through. He knows that you hurt. That you hurt when you walk because of those bad knees. That your rotator cuffs are damaged. That you have to take all those medicines. He knows about all those other pains and aches of a 67-year-old man. He knows. He knows.

Additionally, the Lord wants you to make even more time to pray this year. He knows that sometimes it seems you struggle a bit with that as well. But, He so loves when you take the time to be with Him. He loves it when you take the time to tell Him of your day, of the things that are so important to you, of the dreams you have and so want to fulfill. Did you know that He loves hearing your voice, no really, He loves hearing your voice. He will take any amount of time that you will give Him, and you cannot give Him too much of that. On top off that, He cares about those things you care about. He really wants to know how you feel, what angers you, why tears run down your cheeks sometimes. He wants to know why sometimes, “when all is right with the world,” as you like to say, a small smile crosses your face. He wants to know.

He also wants you to take more time to rest this year, He said to tell you that you are wearing yourself out ragged (smiley face). He wants you to eat well, rest, do your best to sleep, even though you struggle with falling asleep. Exercise when you can, in the way you can, and as much as you can. Don’t spend all day and night in front of those monitors. Take time to read a book, hmm, maybe one of your own. Go on at least one extended vacation this year, he says to tell you that.

And, now that I have told you all that He wanted me to tell you, I have one last piece of advice Love yourself. Respect yourself. Have fun. But, above all things, KEEP WRITING!