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 A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. Home About Us Archives Free email subscription  Listen to these messages  Text only for printing Follow Daily Encouragement on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn     See here for more info. <Previous Message · Archive edition  Martin farmpond in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Our friend Nancy Martin took this photo of their farm pond after a beautiful snowfall. Click here to see a larger desktop-sized photo. "Daily Encouragement New Year Edition" Listen to this message on your audio player."You crown the year with Your bounty" (Psalm 65:11). "Encourage one another daily" (Hebrews 3:13). Ten years ago we entered a time of transition in life. I (Stephen) resigned from a management position of a company I was employed with over 4 years that provided chaplain services (Marketplace Chaplains). Brooksyne also resigned her position as a chaplain a few months later. It was at times a difficult transition with our major focus on further developing our daily encouragement ministry, which at that time was available only as a text email subscription. Our second goal was to work independently as chaplains directly for companies. The first year I primarily developed Daily Encouragement Net and became a driver for my Amish neighbor in his masonry employment. We also cared for my elderly mother who would turn 94 years old today if she were still alive. During the next seven years I had several interim pastoral roles. But for the past three years we have fully devoted our ministry focus to workplace chaplaincy and daily encouragement online ministry, along with occasional speaking engagements. In this special year end edition allow us to express a lot more administrative material than usual. Regular readers know that the administrative operation of Daily Encouragement is behind the scenes with the online devotional ministry our focus, but we feel this overview may be of value and provide answers to questions we receive from time to time. We are grateful for the strength and grace to continue this ministry another year and the opportunity to provide a small, regular dose of daily encouragement and Bible teaching to many readers and podcast listeners around the world.  Foundationally one of the main things we want to convey in each devotional is the daily outlook of two very ordinary believers seeking to live another day faithfully for Christ. This ministry began with a brief email message to several friends in 1996 as I sought to offer a spiritual perspective. Brooksyne came alongside me ten years ago, editing my posts, adding her thoughts, and writing a prayer at the end of each message. We are dedicated to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and each devotional is written based on a commitment to Christ and His Word. Even though we share glimpses of our own family life or that of others, or perhaps an illustrative or humorous story, we want the major focus to be on our Lord Jesus along with a brief exposition of the daily Scripture text.  A variable is the delivery schedule. We normally try to get it off by Noon (Eastern Standard Time), but a phone call, technical problem or other interruptions can easily throw off our good intention. All devotionals are prepared fresh. However, when pressed for time, we may take a previously written message from years earlier and revise or refresh it. After all Biblical truth does not change, and we have new readers coming on board all the time!From the beginning this ministry has been on a weekday basis. We purposefully do not prepare devotionals for Saturday or Sunday. We hope each of you, if physically possible, are active in your local church where the Bible is faithfully preached. We are opposed to the concept of a "cyber or internet church". (This concept calls for believers to essentially forsake the real life fellowship of a local church and be in "virtual" association with others on the internet.) We believe God calls us all to be in regular fellowship with fellow believers in a local church congregation if possible. We affirm the ministry of each local pastor as he fulfills his call to "watch for your souls, as they that must give account" (Hebrews 13:17). Administratively we want to be easy to reach if there are comments, prayer requests or problems. If you have feedback you can use the comments page. However please use this and our email address only for personal, specific feedback. We do value brief notes and prayer requests or comments prompted by a specific message and generally receive several daily. Since most subscriptions are anonymous we have little information regarding the background of the vast majority of our readers. As it has grown we now know only a relative few of you personally and of course this percentage gets smaller as the impact grows. We know our messages go to a wide variety of corporate addresses, educational institutions and countries all around the world.  For those who have subscribed to the email list we want the email to be easy to "unsubscribe" if you prefer to be removed from the mailing list. Just use the automatically inserted link below the footers for immediate removal.A weekly version is available with Friday's message sent out along with the link to previous messages. This may be a preferable subscription for those who check their email infrequently. I especially appeal to those who know us personally to consider the weekly list if frequency is a motive for unsubscribing. We are so thankful for the hundreds of people who have maintained contact through the years who are on this list and we greatly value this connection. The daily mailing and the content of our website are offered as a ministry without any cost whatsoever. We do not use any advertising since in our opinion this would clutter and confuse our message. We merely rely on the Lord to provide for our needs and meet the expenses of this ministry as He leads people to support. For any desiring information on support please see note below. We truly hope the daily encouragement devotional has been a blessing through 2014 and continues to be a blessing and source of spiritual strength and hope to each reader and/or listener in 2015! Our desire is that each of you are committed to Jesus Christ, that you stay faithful, and that you impact many others for Christ. Be encouraged today and have a blessed New Year, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber  Daily prayer: Father, You have crowned our year with Your goodness that flourishes within our hearts, nurtures our relationships, and provides for all our needs. As we embark upon another year we want to be quick to encourage, eager to reach others, and faithful to pray for our brothers and sisters; those whom we connect with regularly and those who live on the other side of the globe. Above all, keep us growing in Your grace and knowledge in this new year of 2015 as we walk hand in hand with You. In doing so You will guide us through any dangers, toils and snares, for nothing can separate us from Your love that has been revealed to us through Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ. It is in His name that we pray. Amen.We do not expect to post a message on New Year's Day but Lord-enabling we will resume Friday, January 2, 2015!  Special Note: We want to thank you who have financially supported our ministry this past year. As in the past we have once again experienced a spike in giving at this time of year. Knowing that there are many fine ministries and causes requesting support at this time we are especially grateful for those of you who have regarded our financial need. Our ministry (and support) is essentially comprised of half our time to Daily Encouragement and the other half to our chaplaincy ministry to companies. Our goal for many years is that each phase would provide half our ministry expenses and family income. Many have donated by check, online, or by using PayPal. If you would like to make a donation see here for more information or donate directly online here. Thank you! Ester sitting next to Brooksyne in a restaurant. We often hear from readers, asking about her health. She's had a pretty good year excepting some troubles she had with some of her medications in August which landed her in the hospital once again. But it's been much smoother this year than last. She's come on board as a photographer capturing quite a few photos we featured this year including several she took today while we were podcasting.    Roxie and Mollie knew they had some Christmas doggie treats awaiting them, so Brooksyne decided to play "See who can stare the longest" with Mollie. Being a border collie you can probably guess who usually wins!  Yes, we still have our cat Dottie, although for several years she has lived in the barn due to her obsession with scratching the furniture (too late for declawing). Yesterday she asserted her youthfulness by playing with a mouse, although she will be 14 years old this Spring. (Brooksyne's Note: This was not my idea to include this photo!) Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources "God Of The Ages" Video Charles Billingsley “Another Year Is Dawning " Video Congregational singing Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne  Stephen and Brooksyne Weber (Click on photo to enlarge) About Us "We want to encourage you daily in your walk with Christ!" Personal Ministry Update (Revised 12/10/14) Are our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? Each weekday morning Brooksyne and I prepare these messages and distribute them at no cost to you and many others all over the world. We ask you to consider an offering to Daily Encouragement Net so that we can continue to prepare and provide this daily resource which is accessed by believers and seekers all over the world. Daily Encouragement Net relies solely on the generosity and financial support of its readers and podcast listeners. See here for more information on supporting this ministry. Gifts are tax deductible. Click here to donate online.2014 YTD offerings to Daily Encouragement Net: $24,580.11 SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION  If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.These messages are never sent by us unsolicited. It was sent to you because you either signed up to receive it OR it was forwarded to you. You can also subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed or as an email subscription through Wordpress email subscription. (See the email subscription on the right side after opening this page.) Cancel: These messages are only sent from us to people who request it; please accept our apologies if it reached you in error. You can unsubscribe from this list at any time. If you no longer desire to receive these messages you can remove your address from the list by merely using the link automatically inserted by the mailing list software at the very bottom of each email message. (To change addresses cancel your old address and then join again using your new address.) Weekly Version: The weekly version is intended for those who may not check their email regularly or who may desire less frequent mailings. It is Friday's message with a link to previous messages. To receive the free weekly version, send a blank email to this address. Daily Encouragement on Facebook and Twitter: The daily message and prayer on Facebook. The daily message and prayer on Twitter.Reader Survey: Please take a few minutes to assist us in improving our ministry effectiveness by filling out this online reader survey. To take the survey click here. Your answers are anonymous and I we are unable to respond. If you want to send a personal message use the Please feel free to pass these messages on! Our other blogs: "A Daily Prayer" - A blog simply posting the daily prayer. We keep this up each day since it's merely the prayer from the Daily Encouragement Net message! "A Little Foolishness" - Humor/satire blog (a great outlet for non-serious writing but at times with a subtle message!) (Note: This material is satire!) "Clear Minded" - Longer, periodic articles on specific issues impacting the faithful believer and church. (Actually this is my intent but I haven't done much with it!) "Hymns of Hope" - Brooksyne along with two friends made a CD using classic hymns. Brooksyne tells the background story of the 11 hymns. All of these songs are also available for download on the site. Personal Mission Statement "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and I make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and to prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."  How to become a child of God Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version. Other versions are also occasionally used. © Copyright 2014 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved Daily Encouragement Net Stephen & Brooksyne Weber 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552  Endorsed chaplain "Living securely today anchored in God's solid foundation" www.dailyencouragement.net |
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