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Welcome 2023!

Welcome 2023!

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Happy New Year!!!

Praying that everyone had a great start to a great new year! Even if you didn’t, I pray that God turns that thing around for you.

I think this year I want to do things a little differently. I don’t particularly like doing resolutions, but I still typically list at least a few things that I hope to accomplish in the new year. This time I don’t want to do that. I want to set one goal for myself. A stretch goal. Something that I know God has been showing me.

I am so glad He is so patient with us. 

The Bible says in part that only what we do for God will last (2 Cor. 5:9-10). I can only speak for myself, but I don’t want anything that God doesn’t want for me. In the past I did. I just wanted what I wanted. I would do things, and then have to ask for forgiveness, because I didn’t do what He told me to do.

Not anymore. If God is not in it…I don’t want any part of it.

I don’t want to keep doing things over because I didn’t listen the first time. I want God to know that my only goal is for my life to be pleasing to Him. The Bible says that if we seek His kingdom first, then all the other things will be added unto us (Luke 12:31). Anyway, we can have all the material things in the world…including money, and still be miserable. And here’s the thing…submitting our plans to God first means we understand WHO is really in control. 

When we listen for His voice, and keep our eyes on Him…nothing will be impossible for us. 

The best way I know to discern what God is speaking to us is to read His word. The Bible has in it every plan, every direction, and every goal that He desires for us. 

Start by reading Psalm 23. It is God’s love letter to us. Read it out loud, and when you read those words…really listen to them. It’s just comforting to know that God continually pursues us, watches over us and looks for ways to bless us. 

Until next time…

Be blessed

Moving forward

Moving forward

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This year has been a wake up call for all of us. I don’t think we could have predicted how much our lives would be changed by this pandemic. Although the Bible speaks of the end times, I never really thought that I would be around for any of it. I’m not sure why though, because many of us have been burning the candle at both ends for a long time. Just letting life happen. And I guess it had to take something this drastic to get our attention.

I have to admit, at first I didn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe that we had let our guards down so much that it not only affected our country…but the whole world. No one was left untouched. Either, it touched our lives personally, or the lives of people we knew. This thing didn’t care about our social status, or our economic background, age, gender, or religion. It was an equal opportunity virus. But I have to say…at first, I was still holding out hope. I wanted to believe that it was just a hoax. That somehow we would all wake up from this dream, and laugh at the absurdity of it all. Needless to say…I am still waiting.

Thank God some things didn’t change. We still celebrated the end of the old year by looking forward to the new one. The celebrations this year, although different, were still just as powerful, and motivating. I still made plans about the things I wanted to leave in 2020, and those things I wanted to achieve in 2021. I was determined to not allow COVID-19 to dictate what God had in store for my life this year. Jeremiah 29:11 says that God will give us a hope and a future. I am definitely going to put my money on Him.

So, my goal for this year is to do something every day that gets me closer to the purpose God has for me. I know there are things God is calling me to, but I have not been able to get past my own thinking. This is the year to move forward. To challenge myself in ways I never have before. To go into this new year unafraid. Determined to walk in my calling. I pray that you will join me, and step out on faith. No longer holding back…but moving ahead declaring that God is greater.

Let’s do this!

Until next time…

Be blessed!

This year, I’m celebrating!

This year, I’m celebrating!

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The word for today is…Grateful.

With so many ways to communicate, it is sometimes hard to keep up. It’s an all day event to read your emails, update your blog, check in with Facebook, try to stay LinkedIn and write something Tweet worthy. I was speaking with a friend recently and we were talking about how many different ways there are of communicating. The funny thing is…with so many ways you would think that families would be closer and we’d talk to friends more often, but sadly that’s not the case. One of my missions this year is to love more and to not spend so much time trying to keep up with technology. I don’t want to become so technically inclined that I forget how to have a real conversation. The other thing I want to do this year is to learn to celebrate. I’m not talking about just the big things—I want to celebrate everything. I want to celebrate when God opens a door, but I also want to celebrate when He closes one. I want to celebrate the special occasions, but I also want to celebrate the little things like being able to eat ice cream on a warm summer day. I want to celebrate having a great day, but I also want to celebrate the not so great days, because He made it and that’s enough for me. Simply put…I want to live purposefully. I want my life to reflect how grateful I am to God for everything. Even the things I don’t like so much, because I know they teach me lessons I may not have learned any other way. Our God is a keeper. He has kept me through some really rough times and He is still keeping me now. So this year I’m going to honor Him by being grateful, loving more and celebrating often. How about you?

Until next time…

Be blessed