With today being the end of 2010, and the end of a decade, I thought it good to randomly reflect on the past ten years in our family
Some joyful things that happened to me are marrying Glen (in 1999), whom I love very much,
and birthing three beautiful children (after being miraculously healed).
I have the privilege of homeschooling my kids, and I’ve been “officially” doing so since 2005.
We moved to our current home in June of 2009, and this house is perfect for us. It feels customized to our family, and I consider it a gift from God.
We all love living in town, for the easy access to grocery stores, and the blessing of having our snowy roads cleaned by the City.
Throughout the last decade, God has stretched me and tested me, and for the most part I feel like I’ve failed. Looking back, it is much easier to judge my faithfulness (or lack thereof), now that I’m not in the midst of painful circumstances. I’m on the other side, and I don’t feel the need to write about the yuck anymore, for which I am thankful. But I wish I’d kept my mouth shut more while I was hurting, or at least voiced my pain to God more than to others.
In light of that desire, my main resolution for 2011 is to draw closer to God. Instead of making a list of things to accomplish—which usually involves changing my personality and my habits, feels oppressive, and sets me up for failure—I’m going to pray and ask God to show me what I should focus on this new year. He may well have me to list some of the areas I’ve struggled with in the past; however, I feel encouraged by two questions I read recently in a short Bible study on New Year’s Resolutions (intouch.org—they will have the January issue up soon and this is from the 15-minute Bible study, “Decisions That Really Matter):
1. Think about a current area of struggle in your life. What do you suppose is the root issue behind this weakness?
This question really hit me. There are some specific areas that I have great struggle with, and I’ve made vows over and over again to change, only to continuously fail. With God’s light shining on the root issue behind the struggle, I can take a different, less oppressive, approach to goal-setting.
2. How confident are you that God can overcome a characteristic or habit that you’ve repeatedly failed to conquer? Which is stronger—your stronghold or almighty God?
Again, this touched me because when I failed before, I just gave up. I had an all-or-nothing attitude, and that kept me defeated. But I realize that my behavior said that God isn’t big enough to bring me through to victory, and now I’m determined to keep moving forward regardless of how much I stumble along the way.
I pray that everyone reading this has a rich, wonderful new year. May 2011 be a year when your love for God deepens and grows, so that it overflows to everyone around you!
Some joyful things that happened to me are marrying Glen (in 1999), whom I love very much,
and birthing three beautiful children (after being miraculously healed).
I have the privilege of homeschooling my kids, and I’ve been “officially” doing so since 2005.
We moved to our current home in June of 2009, and this house is perfect for us. It feels customized to our family, and I consider it a gift from God.
We all love living in town, for the easy access to grocery stores, and the blessing of having our snowy roads cleaned by the City.
Throughout the last decade, God has stretched me and tested me, and for the most part I feel like I’ve failed. Looking back, it is much easier to judge my faithfulness (or lack thereof), now that I’m not in the midst of painful circumstances. I’m on the other side, and I don’t feel the need to write about the yuck anymore, for which I am thankful. But I wish I’d kept my mouth shut more while I was hurting, or at least voiced my pain to God more than to others.
In light of that desire, my main resolution for 2011 is to draw closer to God. Instead of making a list of things to accomplish—which usually involves changing my personality and my habits, feels oppressive, and sets me up for failure—I’m going to pray and ask God to show me what I should focus on this new year. He may well have me to list some of the areas I’ve struggled with in the past; however, I feel encouraged by two questions I read recently in a short Bible study on New Year’s Resolutions (intouch.org—they will have the January issue up soon and this is from the 15-minute Bible study, “Decisions That Really Matter):
1. Think about a current area of struggle in your life. What do you suppose is the root issue behind this weakness?
This question really hit me. There are some specific areas that I have great struggle with, and I’ve made vows over and over again to change, only to continuously fail. With God’s light shining on the root issue behind the struggle, I can take a different, less oppressive, approach to goal-setting.
2. How confident are you that God can overcome a characteristic or habit that you’ve repeatedly failed to conquer? Which is stronger—your stronghold or almighty God?
Again, this touched me because when I failed before, I just gave up. I had an all-or-nothing attitude, and that kept me defeated. But I realize that my behavior said that God isn’t big enough to bring me through to victory, and now I’m determined to keep moving forward regardless of how much I stumble along the way.
I pray that everyone reading this has a rich, wonderful new year. May 2011 be a year when your love for God deepens and grows, so that it overflows to everyone around you!
May the Lord bless you and keep you and yours, comfortable and loved in the new year. (some of us are not as eloquent, but the message is the same,
ReplyDeleteI love you;)