Happy New Year!

Dear Reader,

I can't believe another year has gone by! January 1st 2013 begins my fourth year of posting these daily devotions.

When I began writing them in December of 2009 (for 2010) I didn't know how long I'd last. But that's the beauty of God's Word. There's always more to find, to learn, to apply, to obey. I can honestly say after the daily discipline of three years of writing these almost every morning, if I take a day off, I feel 'off'!

In 2013 I will continue following the Canadian Bible Society Daily Reading Guide (prepared for the 28th consecutive year by the Rev. Dr. K. L. Peterson) as the Bible basis for these meditations. Here's what's in store for us according to the Guide's back cover:

"If the Guide is used every day during 2013, 56 books of the Bible will be utilized and 11 will be read in their entirety. With intention for 2013, all 79 biblical texts used by G. F. Handel in his oratorio "Messiah" will be read, as will the 12 so-called Great Prayers of the Old Testament."

(Download a pdf copy of the Guide here for your own use.)

So we'll be on the lookout for those 79 "Messiah" texts and twelve Great Prayers of the Old Testament. I'll try to spot them and give you a little nudge when they appear (but if I miss one, don't hesitate to let me know via  'Comments').

Now that I have a goodly number of these devotions written (and indexed, both OT and NT) it's easy for me to see if, and what, I've written about a text in the past. You may have noticed that from time to time I re-publish a devotion. I will continue to do that this year (those posts are tagged "re-post").

Thank you to all my faithful readers for taking this journey with me. May God bless you all richly in 2013!

Love,

Violet Nesdoly

P.S. I'd also like to invite you to visit my website blog, where I have begun posting articles on the theme of Bringing the Bible to Life. I plan to post once or twice a week on a variety of Bible-related topics such as: 

• the history of the Bible 
• Bible study helps
• interviews with biblical authors, illustrators, and translators
• book reviews (with an emphasis on biblical fiction).