Happy New Year from Hearts Being Healed Ministries. We bless you in the name of Jesus! (Read all the way to the end to find out exactly what that means.)
We didn’t leave 2024 the same way we started… we are so excited to announce that we have added a new HBH Chapter in Wickenburg, AZ, whose conference will debut in 2026.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We have an exciting line-up of conferences and classes scheduled in 2025 for you to enjoy and help you grow your faith.
Coming very soon is our first conference of 2025 that will be held in Yuma, AZ on February 8th. Online registration for the Yuma conference is now open! You’ll want to go online immediately to get specific information about it and choose the speakers you want to hear and get registered.
Then the next conference will be in Chico, CA on March 15th. Last year we celebrated our 20th annual Chico HBH conference, and we’re excited to continue the journey with you in our flagship location. We’ll post on our website and on Facebook when registration opens for this conference.
Both conferences will be followed up by our Treasures Out of Trauma classes. Dates and locations will be announced at the conferences. Find out more about this after care support here https://heartsbeinghealed.org/after-conference-support/
Later in the year there will be conferences in other locations to tell you about, so stay tuned.
We invite you to follow us regularly on our Hearts Being Healed Facebook page. Besides updates about what’s happening and information on opportunities, we post a new blog every Sunday and sometimes other occasions. Our first blog of 2025 “Got Plans?” was posted on New Year’s Day. If you haven’t read it yet, please do. It will help set your mind on the path to intentionally seeking God first as you go forward this year and on with your life. You can find it on our HBH Facebook page, HBH website, and many of our board members’ personal social media accounts. We invite you to share our posts on your social media, too. We want to share God’s blessing with others!
Actually, what is “blessing”? We hear the phrase “God bless you” often, but what does it mean?
Our society moves so quickly in these times. We don’t take time to say everything we want to communicate, but reduce everything down to sound bites, and expect people to understand what we are saying. “God bless you” is one of those phrases that has started replacing “good-bye” or “see you later” and has lost its true meaning. But when the Bible talks about blessing, it is a very serious and sacred thing.
God is the source of all blessing.
God is a God who blesses. In fact, when God created Adam and Eve, the first thing He did was to bless them. (Genesis 1:28). And the last thing Jesus did on earth? He blessed his apostles. (Luke 24:50-51)
The Hebrew word for bless means to kneel down. God “bends down” to give us Himself and with that, all His benefits – His faithfulness, mercy, forgiveness, grace, love, comfort, joy, hope, guidance, redemption, adoption, acceptance and more.
Ephesians 1:3,
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
Because God is infinite, we can never reach the end of His blessing.
The blessing spoken most often in and from the scriptures is found in Numbers 6:24-26
24 “‘“The Lord bless you
and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.”’
While these words are often spoken as a prayer or petition, there is no “will you” or “may you” included here. God has proclaimed this blessing and has commanded that it be spoken over His people.
God blesses us personally.
Six times, these verses repeat “you” and each time it is in the singular form. Rather than blessing Israel corporately in these verses, God of the universe blesses each one personally. The same is true today. God sees you. God knows you intimately, cares for you individually and blesses you personally.
God blesses as a father to his child.
How can God lift His countenance upon us if He is in heaven and we are on earth? Doesn’t he look down upon us? These words are a picture of a father lifting his child in his arms above him. Just as that father lifts up his beaming face to that child, God shines His full pleasure, His full goodwill, and His full joy over you as His child.
God’s blessing brings peace.
God’s peace is more than the absence of strife. The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, stems from the word which means restoration back to the original state. God’s peace means not just harmony, but completeness and wholeness, rest and welfare, soundness and safety.
When we at Hearts Being Healed say we bless you, this Biblical blessing is what we are saying to you.
Take heart today. In a world that is often hard and chaotic, God has bent down to bless you personally. God of infinite benefits gives them to you. And though the world may frown, God’s beaming countenance is upon you. Walk in the fullness of Your Father’s extravagant blessing.
Our prayer for you for 2025:
May you find and know God in a new, more complete, and life-changing way this year, whether you are “meeting” Him for the first time or have been in relationship with Him for many years. And may His blessing be upon you every minute of every day!
Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.
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