A look back at my New Year's Resolutions

This is the time of the year when people stop and evaluate their lives. The look at the New Year's Resolution's they made last year, see if they accomplished what they set their minds to do. New Year's Resolutions....
I'm not a big fan of New Year's Resolutions... they seem somewhat petty, like you can't just do stuff during the year, you have to wait till January to start something right.  But last year I decided, why not. I'll just try anyway see what the big deal is. I made two resolutions; easy ones I figured wouldn't be too hard to keep.


#1 - Work on my relationship with God
#2 - Exercise


I figured the first would be a pretty much no-brainer, except I wanted to do it a lot.  I thought I would work towards the place where you are;
 "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; " - Ephesians 6:18
Well, I didn't get there, but all throughout this past year, I kept thinking about the resolution I had made to
"...press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:14 and it would spur me on in God.


The second resolution was a bit harder to keep.  I wanted to exercise more and not because I wanted to lose weight and look like a model, but because I knew I wasn't in the best physical shape and I knew exercising would be good for me.  Well... sometime early this year I almost herniated a disk in my back and was put on restrictions for several weeks.  So that x'd any thoughts for exercising for a while.  After that I was just busy and too lazy to try and exercise.  Then, when I was seriously trying to fit it back into my schedule, I locked my hip.  And yep, that x'd exercising for another few weeks.  After that I decided that was enough, I'm just going to do it.  I need to get my body back into shape so I'm not getting hurt!!  I bought a DVD so I could exercise at home and not have to go to a gym or try running (which I stink at).  I've started doing it a couple times a week.  And you know what, not only am I enjoying it, but I'm noticing a difference.  I feel better, I don't get winded as much and I walk taller, more confidently and I haven't hurt myself since the locked hip.  Plus, I'm not a big fan of the music on the DVD so I try to pray while I'm exercising. It's not bad music, just not my preferences.


So all in all, my resolution to have New Year's Resolutions turned out pretty well. I got somewhere with them.  My final thoughts on the subject. Am I a fan of resolutions?  Yes, and No.  Yes, as a person who enjoys rising to a challenge, absolutely; it spurred me to do something and keep with it.  No, I don't think they are for everyone and it depends on the resolution, don't just think of something; put thought into it, decide to do something you actually WANT to do. Ditch New Year's, start it NOW.  Make resolutions all the time to push on in God, to Do Hard Things and allow God to make a difference in your life and the lives around you.  Resolve to let God consume your life into His will.




Philippians 3:13-14  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

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Behind the Scenes

Happy January 2009!

The year has barely begun and stretches before us all fresh and new. Can you believe that it’s already 2009? It feels not long ago that it was 2000 and I was wearing braces.

It was at about this time last year that the IDDBlog and IDD Forum team started discussing a germ of an idea: a blog for single women who are committed to courtship/dating-with-a-purpose. The blog didn’t debut until the spring, but the ideas and thoughts began in the winter.

Sometimes things take time to come to completion. All of the blog staff have other commitments that sometimes come before the blog: full-time and part-time jobs, school, ministries and just plain out boring every day stuff like laundry, house-cleaning and cooking. It wasn’t until several months after our first discussion that the blog actually debuted. It took time – expensive and sometimes hard to find stuff, that – and work, discussion and prayer.

While the comparison is very weak, just hear me out. The blog staff and I were the creators of the blog. While most of you readers weren’t aware of it, we were busy getting things ready for the blog, even before it appeared anywhere on the internet. Articles were complied and templates tweaked.

God is not just a creator, but He is the Creator. And one of the things that He is creating is the story of our lives. Sometimes parts of our stories are being created and we just don’t know it. Like the blog a year ago, God might be working and putting things into place that we don’t know about, that we won’t ever know fully until His timing is right.

There are things going on behind the scenes. Sometimes life looks boring and quiet and humdrum – as if nothing will ever change and as if God wants us where we are forever. Sometimes life is hard, painful and full of difficult decisions.

Sometimes it is difficult to see the end of it all, to see any sort of plan that God is creating. The thing is, we can’t always see things from the beginning. We can’t always tell what God is working out for us – until life has progressed a little longer, until the point when God decides to let us in on the next part of the story He is writing.

Characters in stories don’t know how it will all turn out in the end…but, we as readers, are given the special pleasure of watching the story unfold in front of our eyes. Without knowing it, we, as readers, get to see the groundwork as it’s being laid.

The thing is, as characters in this beautiful story that God is writing for each and every one of us, we don’t necessarily see the groundwork for what it is. It’s just life for some of us. Parts are hidden, other parts don’t stand out. And other parts are just plain hard.

But…they’re all there. All the puzzle pieces, each and every single one that will become clearer and clearer one day.

For some of us, it might be love stories, whether it’s about falling more and more in love with our Lord and Savior each day of our lives, or a more earthly romance with the men God wants us to marry. For others, it might be the stories of our lives, the next chapter, involving jobs, school, relationships and our walk with God.

Wherever we are, we can’t see the whole picture, we don’t know the whole story. But…we can trust the Person behind the scenes, the One guiding us as we walk out our lives, as we live out our stories. It might look messy at times, it might look hard or bleak at times…but it’s a story and the most amazing Author on earth is writing it.

Let’s live out our stories to the fullest this year. Let’s trust God the fullest this year and prepare to be amazed by how He directs us in our lives.

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New Year's Resolutions With a Little Help From a 2 Year Old

It all started on Christmas Eve when we were at my grandparent's house celebrating Grandpa's 70th birthday.  Sarah, who is 2,  hadn't gotten her nap yet and by 3:30 she was quite beside herself.  She was tired and wound up; not the best combination.  I finally scooped her up and took off to Grandma and Grandpa's room to lay her down for a nap.  She didn't want to be alone so I laid down next to her and told her that I would sing to her for a few minutes and then she needed to sleep.  She loves to sing; I think music might be one of her favorite pastimes :-)  She immediately asked for he favorite song "I Hear the Sound of the Army of the Lord. I said no that's not a
sleeping song.  So, she started into "Give me that old time religion, give me that old time religion give me that old time religion, it's good enough for me."  Needless to say I was quite shocked.  Not only did my 2 year old baby sister know "Give Me That Old Time Religion", but she was singing it with such conviction.  Now it's very possible, knowing how dramatic she can be, that she was just being herself.  But it made me think; "Do I have that old time religion?  Am I walking as Enoch walked with God?" "Do I walk every day with the cross and what Jesus did for me before his eyes; using is as the goal I live my life striving for?"

    Then it went farther: I've been thinking lately about how I to strengthen my relationship with God and spend more time reading my Bible and praying.  I've been noticing a lack in my walk with God.  I've been trying to come up with more ways I can make time to read my Bible, concentrating during the day on things of God not natural things.  Well... I wasn't getting very far, and then with the "Old Time Religion" song I knew that I needed to do some serious spiritual overhauling and make sure that I was on the right path with God. 
      
          On Sunday I was listening to the message when certain things aren't sticking out to me.
1) Exodus 33:17-18 
And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that there hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
- Share your heart with God and he will begin to share his heart with you.
2) Philippians 3:7-10a
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ.
And be found in him, not having, mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him.
That I may know him...  that's what I want. I know God, so... what do I do?  Well... the answer is right in the verses. 1) Ask God to show me His glory.  And then I need to share my heart with him, talk to him like I talk to my sisters. 2) Count all things but loss and know more about God, get into His word and know who He is and what He has for me. 

So... about that New Year's Resolution.  I'm not a big resolution person but this year I decided that since I had some things that I've been meaning to do anyway I could do them as my New Year's Resolutions and I am going to make sure that I keep them. So, as of yesterday I am working on my relationship with God, big time.

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