I say it every year, but I can’t believe another year has gone by already! We are about to turn the calendar on 2017 and welcome 2018. My son will turn 18 this month, will graduate high school in May and will start college in the fall. I am about to know what it is like to be an “empty-nester”! Whether I like it or not change is coming but truthfully change comes with each New Year and if we are wise we learn to accept change and make the best of things.

As we face 2018 we must consider what we are going to do as God’s people in this new year. We can’t remain where we have been because that will not result in growth. We can’t ignore God’s desire to form us into His image more and more each year, even each day. Are you willing to say to God, “Whatever you want to do in my life as long as it means I will be closer to you please have your way in me?” Are there areas of your life that you have been keeping from God, unwilling to surrender your will to His? Let 2018 be the year you finally surrender it all to Him rather than trying to live for your own desires.

It is my prayer that we, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, will approach this new year with everything we are as a church on the table before God. Pray that God will give us the wisdom to discard
the things that hinder us from being the best we can possibly be as a church. If there is anything that we are currently doing that is not what God wants us to do then let’s have the courage to
say we will no longer do it. On the other hand, if there is anything that God wants us to do that we are not currently doing let’s have the wisdom to do it for His glory.

2017 has been a good year for us as a church but I pray that 2018 will be even better. I pray that we will see people added to the Kingdom of God and to the body of Christ here at Pleasant Grove. I pray that we will truly have a heart to serve others in 2018 so that we can show them the love that we already know in Jesus Christ. Join me in praying for God to guide us in His steps in 2018.