Merry Christmas!

It's been a while.  Aside from my rant about the recent cop-hating trend the A.J. Mathieu blog has been quiet for quite some time now.  It was time for me to be quiet.  It was time for me to rest. It was time for me to listen.

My five years of political work was a time of sweet struggle.  God called me to the work and He sustained me through the season.  Everything was for a purpose, some of which He is already revealing to me. I embraced the service and the fights.  I took on the wolves in sheep's clothing, but too many of the sheep don't recognize their costumes still.  That's ok.  They know who they are and they have been outed.  It's just a matter of time for them.

I enjoyed my quiet time.  I waited on the Lord and He was faithful and gracious.  While I'm not ready to reveal the details of the next chapter of my story I feel it's time to give God the glory by testifying to His faithfulness in the coordination of events that He has led me through in the last many years and months.  I'm excited about opportunities that are still developing, but I'm most excited about the gift of recognizing God's movement.  That's what I want to convey to you today.

God's timing is His own and He is sovereign in it.  God's plans for our lives are not always our own and He is sovereign in that too.  The excitement in either one is recognizing His movement in your life.  Becoming in step with Him is much more exciting than winning an election.  An election of a different sort has already been won.

So this Christmas Season my prayer for those of you in the faith is that you would not only rejoice in the gift already given and now commemorated at Christmas, but in the realization that God has a plan for your life too and He is just waiting for you to unwrap it - the excited parent on Christmas Day waiting to see the joy on their child's face.  The anticipation of Christmas Day and everyday is now not the arrival of the Christ Child, but the arrival of the Holy Spirit in your life and the production of fruit in you for the author and perfecter of our faith and the benefits of those you come in contact with thereafter.

Merry Christmas,

A.J.