Beauty arrives when God is dwelling there.

Have you ever wondered what makes a bride so beautiful?

At our daughter’s wedding, one of the attendees commented to a bystander, “She’s the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen”.

When Jesus makes all things new, he changes us from the inside out (aka dwells within us by His Holy Spirit).

In Ephesians, we learn that not only does the Savior clothe us with righteousness (when we are born again and become part of His family, the church) but he washes us with the water of the Word.

Please enjoy these Bible passages and photos from this year. **Happy New Year, looking forward to “a few things new” in 2024. -Teresa

2 Corinthians 5: 1-5 (NIV)

For we know that if the earthly

tent

we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile we groan,

longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,

3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan

 and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,

 so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Ephesians 5:25-29 (NIV)

Husbands, love your wives,

 just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

26 to make her holy,

 cleansing

 her by the washing

 with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself

 as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives

as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church.

Revelation 21:1-5 (ESV)*

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place^[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,^[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.^{[c] 4} He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

⁵ And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

*OneyearBibleonlinehttp://oneyearbibleonline.com/daily-oyb/?version=47&startmmdd=0101

**https://apps.apple.com/us/app/biblescope-niv-message-erv/id297320695