This week’s Newberry Notes is recorded in honor and memory of Joan O’Dell, a Newberry legendary analyst and spiritual leader. She has passed on to an angelic, revered world, but her words spoken for over a decade were heard and will be remembered in churches, radio conventions and assemblies. Admirers have experienced true explanations in her references to the Biblical clarifications. Truth was requested and welcomed from Joan O’Dell.

New 2013 calendars are being hung on the wall as we celebrate the arrival of the New Year—the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. The following is the dialog with Joan as she proposed words of wisdom for a New Year.

January 1 opens the door to the New Year. Joan O’Dell suggests, “People would do well to commit themselves to Jesus. His hand comforts, calms, protects, steadies and sustains. He is the wisest of all counselors, the strongest of all defenders, the richest of all beneficiaries and the nearest of all friends. We can trust an unknown future to a known God.

Christian resolutions are a good way to go into the New Year. The Wisdom of Solomon can guide people’s ways. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs. If a person would read one chapter each day, they will cover the entire Proverb scriptures in the month of January. The reader then would be more Christ like in an everyday world.

“There must be a personal relationship with Jesus,” O’Dell stresses,“daily by prayer, by the sacraments, by worship, by association, and by thanking God for spiritual blessings. Thank Him for the gift of life for another day—it is an unearned gift. Thank Him for the hope of heaven, and the agony He endured on the Cross to save us all from endless death.”

She points out “Sunday is the ‘crown of the week’—our reason for existence. Honor it with worship. The worship of the Most Holy Trinity is not to be conferred when it is convenient or when we are ‘in the mood’. Be reminded, we own nothing personally. All belongs to God who makes gifts possible—a temporary loan. In turn, we have a standard offering back to God, part of which He has loaned us—a tithe. The last act of stewardship is your will which should be a bequest to your church, your spiritual home in this world.

God has given many gifts but in order to receive them, a person must receive Jesus Christ as personal Savior. These spiritual gifts are free for the taking. All you need to do is receive them according to God’s Word. You have been given the Gift of the Holy Spirit as Comforter, Counselor and Advocate. Healing is another gift. Peace provides the gift of serenity in the midst of trouble and despair. Love is a gift of assurance that nothing can separate you from God’s love. Also the gift of Eternal Life, which as a Christian, you are promised life after death in heaven.

We can trust an unknown future to a known God. Above all else, there must be a personal relationship with Jesus.

Holy Scriptures are to read daily to learn about God’s will for us. You can follow God’s pathway to success by attending to His Word and putting it first place in your life.

Jesus first, others next, self-last, brings the only tranquility in a less than tranquil world. The gift of Jesus is for all who will receive Him. If we accept the Gift, it is ours for eternity. Because God so loved the world He gave His Son to mankind forever. Jesus is a Gift that you simply receive Him and accept Him as Savior and Lord. Through Jesus comes salvation, joy, peace, healing, prosperity, happiness and every good and perfect gift. Receiving Jesus as Savior will make this your best year.

Look for Lord Jesus,” O’Dell continues—“He is waiting to be wanted: In every crisis, His care is there, claim it. In every grief, His grace is there, glory in it; in every peril, His presence is there, practice it; in every sorrow, His solace is there, seize it; in every temptation, His triumph is there, take it.”

Joan’s questions for the New Year: “Why don’t you exchange gifts with God by accepting the gift of His Son and giving Him the gift of yourself?”

“Why carry your load alone, when God will help you?