Also recently a woman got in contact with me who was in our youth group when I was youth pastor in Santa Barbara. She commented on how much we had meant to her back then. I had forgotten about her and always thought that the youth ministry in Santa Barbara was a failure. We went to visit her on our way home from Santa Barbara. It is important for us to reflect sometimes on the past, and receive God’s perspective on it. We tend to either make the past better than it was or much worse than it was. In all of this I believe God wanted to remind me that his plans and purposes stand firm.

In Psalms 33 verse 11 it says this: “But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” So as you begin this new year take time to reflect on what has happened over your life. Some of us have suffered more than we will admit, and others have had many good things happen in our lives. It is important to get the Father’s perspective, so we can move forward to the future, and receive healing for and from our past. I believe God has been showing us his plans for a long time and we may have missed seeing it. It is easy to look back and see failure in our lives, it is not so easy to look back and see the good things God has done and is doing. God has put our memory there for many reasons, one of those I believe is to bring back remembrance of the good he has done in our lives. It is also used to bring us healing from past wounds or lies that have invaded our hearts.

What does God have in store for you this new year? For us at NatomasMen we are looking forward to many outreaches and events leading up to our retreat in October, we are calling it the Retooling of Mens souls. We are all in need of retooling, letting God remake us in his image. How do we allow that to happen? As men our question is always how do we do that? I hope over this new year to begin to learn in our own lives what needs retooling, and what God has for the men who will attend our retreat.

As we begin this new year I have many requests for those of you who will read this. The main one is will you join our intercession team. We desperately need your prayers for this ministry to go forward. Will you pray about joining us for our retreat in October? I believe God has much in store for all of us at the retreat.

Last year was a great time in the Lord. Will you also pray about supporting us financially? We will need the finance’s to continue ministering in the direction that God is leading us. God has plans and a purpose for all of us. Maybe we can help you find that this year. Love in Christ your brother Mike Swain.

Yours for his Kingdom,
Mike Swain