It is important to listen with all the senses, and to feel.  Awareness is a way of learning, too.  In these days to come you must be alive and aware to everything.  Let the days leave tracks upon your memory.” 
              –Louis L’Amour  (The Californios)

    “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.”
              –Psalm 37:23 (NLT)
————————
I get so tired of the “junk” in the world, our nation, in churches.  Why is it so hard to look at a problem and come up with a solution without working on someone’s agenda, especially the devil’s?  The bickering in our government has nothing to do with politics or policy but plain old pettiness.  I guess it has always been that way, and it will until the Lord returns and governs during the Millennium.
    In the midst of all the “junk,” it is imperative that the believer remain true and is not swayed.  Francis de Sales wrote many years ago that, “True devotion must be sought among many counterfeits.”  True devotion is honest, sacrificial love toward God.  It is not something to hype your emotions or something that you conjur up to make you “happy.”  But it is a lifestyle that is automatic and actually part of you.
    It is this devotion that helps get us through the “stupidity of life,” and the turmoils that rack the soul.  People in the world look at the devoted person with strange eyes for they cannot see that inward love that the believer has for God, nor can they understand it.  It is devotion that transforms the difficult things into joy.  Hmmm, if you were to follow someone, or if someone was to follow you for a day, from you actions, words, deeds, etc., would they know that you were devoted to Christ?
    Paul speaks of the devoted life in Colossians (3:17,23) when he says that everything we do should be unto the Lord.  Therefore, true devotion never interferes with earning a living, it makes your work more effective.  If you are truly working for the Lord, then everything you do will be your best effort, and will transfer to the work for your employer.  It is never–just get by, or good enough for government work.  If you are working for the Lord, every job you do will be more enjoyable.  I’ve heard that 85% of the people do not enjoy their work.  That is a shame.
    Sure there are times when we might not enjoy the work or the job given to us.  There are times when we might have to sacrifice what we want for family.  However! Even in those instances or circumstances we should be joyful at work and work at it if for no other reason than the fact that we are actually working for the Lord.  If we truly believe His Word, we should recognize that the steps of the righteous are ordered by Him.  Take that thought to work with you today.  Let the day, the experience leave “tracks upon your memory.”

Every morning starts a new day…  You do wrong, and you’re thrown down hard.  If you are what you called yourself, a quitter, you don’t get up again; but if you are a man you make a new beginning.”
              –William MacLeod Raine  (Sons of the Saddle)

    “Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day.”
              –2 Corinthians 4:16 (AMPC)
———————–
How do you see the world around you?  Do you see from the eyes of despair and disillusionment?  Do you look at it with pessimism and discontentment?  Or do look at your circumstances through the lens of Scripture?  I came across the following diary from Mary Bethell, dated January 1, 1862.  The horrendous Civil War was just beginning to show the tremendous loss of life that was to follow with the first major deadly battle at the First Bull Run.  Moving into 1862 things looked bleak.

         “A New Year and a New Covenant January 1, 1862 New Year’s day.  And I will live to see another year, I have had some trials last year, my two sons George and Willie left me for the war.  They joined the army for twelve months, but the Lord has been with them, and gave them excellent health and every comfort, while many poor soldiers have sickened and died, my sons have been spared to enjoy good health. . .the Lord has been very good to me the past year, I have had good health, and all my children and servants have had good health, and I have enjoyed myself at times, had some refreshing seasons for the Lord.  I will praise the Lord for his goodness to me and my family, I will now, on this new years day renew my covenant with God my Saviour.  I give myself to him, and pray that I may spend this year to his honor and glory, and that I may live to be useful and happy!”

    Do things rob you of your joy?  If so, then perhaps you are trying to gather strength from yourself or some other source.  Look at the words of Paul.

         “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
                   –Philippians 4:11-12(NIV)

Paul recognized that joy does not come from circumstances but from the Lord.  In fact, it is one of the fruits of the Spirit.  It is within; it just needs to be cultivated.  “True Christian joy does not come from outward circumstances, but from the peace and contentment we have in him.” (Tuley)  Our strength comes from Him.  From what side of life are you looking at your situations and circumstances?

Fear sets a man up sometimes for what he has to face.  A little fear does no harm, just so it doesn’t put a man on the run.”
              –Louis L’Amour (Matagorda)

    “That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.”
              –Ecclesiastes 12:13(NLT)
——————–
Sometimes I wonder, how about you?  Why did the things that happened in 2018, happen?  Where was God?  Why did this obstacle lie in your path?  I have a print by Fred Deaver on my bedroom wall over my dresser.  The title, “Heap of Trouble.”  It shows a mountain man with a pack mule coming around a trail high in the mountains.  On his right is a deep gorge; on his left is a steep, sheer cliff.  As he glances around the bend there is a grizzly bear coming toward him.  There was no where to go–he was in a heap of trouble.  Ever been there?  Maybe not in the mountains with a grizzly facing you, but in life there are other types of “grizzilies”.  
    Ponder the following Scripture:

         Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable (inscrutable, unsearchable) are His judgments (His decisions)! And how untraceable (mysterious, undiscoverable) are His ways (His methods, His paths)!”
                    –Romans 11:33(AMPC)

Life is full of unanswered questions.  Sometimes God heals and takes care of us, other times He allows things to happen (that doesn’t mean He is not taking care of us when something does happen).  “God wills that we know that he keeps us ever equally safe, in woe as in well-being.” (Julian of Norwich)  Many times problems come because of things we did or things that other people did.  Some of those things may have been directed at us, but sometimes they are what is referred to as an accident–it just happened.  There are times when God sends us into a wilderness to teach lessons or for us to become more acquainted with Him.  I smile when people say they want a relationship with Him, but then reject the hardships that may force them to get closer to Him.  They just want to tip-toe through the tulips, but life is often like walking through a forest of cacti; beautiful in their own way, marvelous flowers, but oh, the thorns.
    Some things happen because God trusts us.  Study Job, he had no clue that the Lord set him apart to be troubled by the devil.  And, some things will remain mysteries.  Suffering and death for example, they will remain a mystery until we get to the other side and into eternity.  It is important to study the nature of God (theology) and to develop a relationship with Him, but never get to the place where you think you can understand Him.  Perhaps, that is why man seeks to set himself up in the place of God; why he wants to become autonomous because he cannot understand the ways of the Almighty.
    Get this in your mind and your heart.  No matter what–trust Him.  Remember, God never makes a mistake.  He is always in control.  Grasp hold of a statement made by Oswald Chambers.  “Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.”
    Back to the poor boy on the trail.  I have often looked at that painting and wondered what happened.  Did the bear backtrack or did he rare up and scare the horse causing it to buck and throwing the rider over the cliff?  Perhaps the rider was able to bring his rifle to bear and kill the grizzly or wound it severely so that it fell over the edge? Did the bear scare the pack horse causing it to slip on the trail and slide over the ledge? Life is like that–we go along, heading for our destination, seemingly all is fine and happy when all of a sudden there is “A Heap of Trouble.”
————————-
Last year was a good year in my reading schedule.  I always try to read four classics; one a quarter.  Last year I was able to read eight.
         The Deerslayer — James Fenimore Cooper
         Across the Plains — Robert Louis Stevenson
         An Alarm to Unconverted Sinners — Joseph Alleine
         How I Found Livingstone — Henry M. Stanley
         Walden — Henry David Thoreau
         The Trail of the Lonesome Pine — John Fox, Jr.
         A Christmas Carol — Charles Dickens
         Bransford of Rainbow Range, Eugene Manlove Rhodes (I included this as it was written at the turn of the 19th century and is a little different than other western writers).

Hope you take the challenge and read at least one classic.  I am starting with The Last of the Mohicans.