Fabulous! That's how I'm feeling about the New Year. A brand new year with 365 days to live and love, to challenge myself and change, to grow and become the woman I feel God wants me to be.
I love goals and challenges and I love at the end of the day crossing everything off my list and seeing how I my day, my week and month has progressed. At the end of the year I love re-examining my life and seeing if my goals helped me grow or if I was lazy and did not accomplish many of my goals and thus did not see a change in my life. I will admit that last year I was lazy in so many areas of my life. At the end of 2015 I was not happy with how my year went and wanted to change so many things about myself, so I readjusted my goals list and I am so excited to see what God will do with my life this year. So here are a few of my goals for 2016.
The 70 Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards
My husband and I have committed to work together and help each other as we follow the resolutions written by this man so long ago. These resolutions focus on keeping your eyes on Jesus and being humble, kind, full of charity and always looking at the spiritual aspect of things around us. We started this today by reading through these 70 Resolutions and talking about each point and praying over them. Already we have seen a difference in how we talk and relate to others around us and it hasn't even been a full day yet!
This year I want to dig deeper in my Bible study. For Christmas my husband gave me this journal Bible that I can write in and mark up as I study. For each chapter, I will take apart every word and phrase, learning the cultural, historical and textual context of each passage. I am excited to begin this study and to know and love my God and Savior more deeply than I ever have. Along with my morning study I have committed to spending an hour in prayer, and daily memorizing a new verse, writing in my Thankful Journal, listening to a sermon or religious podcast and surrounding myself with uplifting music.
Another goal I have is to love and support my husband more.
We both get so busy, that sometimes I feel we are just passing in the night! Every day I want to send him a sweet text encouraging him or write a love letter to let him now I'm thinking of him or take small gifts to his office to show him I appreciate him. He is such a wonderful man and I am truly thankful for him and all he does for me!
I also want to live in the moment and find joy in the small things. It seems I am always so busy, that I am always in a rush that I miss so much! I want to be able to see little things around me, the beauty and fun around me and take time to enjoy these things. I want to make every moment count and look back and see joy in every moment, no matter the circumstance or trial.
I also have goals to love on and encourage my ladies at church,
to work at least half an hour a day at the church cleaning or organizing, and working on landscaping the parsonage lawn as soon as the weather turns nice. Of course I still have a goal to finish the three quilts I have started and that have been sitting in my closet for years and also to start making and doing some of the things I have pinned on Pinterest!
And finally for my personal goals, I want to stay on my no sugar, no pop,
no chips, no fired food and no fast food diet. I have lost 50 pounds in almost 5 months and am feeling great! I have 50 more pounds to lose to be at my goal weight by August! (Did I mention I have not exercised or eaten veggies in those 5 months!) Also every morning I have a goal to stretch. I have never been flexible and never can remember being able to touch my toes and by the end of the year I want to be able to!
So those are my goals for the New Year and I am so excited
to see what God will do and where He will lead me as I daily live for Him and make every day count!
Congratulations on losing those fifty pounds! That's a lot of willpower! You should be very proud of yourself. I'm sure this encourages youvtoo, to see first hand how God gives strength and how wonderful it is knowing He cares for what is important to us. I also want to ask you where I can get a Bible like you have that will teach me the " historical, the cultural an9d the textual content" like yours. I love to learn! Again, congratulations! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jen! The Bible I have is just a simple Journal with no commentaries or any other study helps. To find the cultural and historical content I am first, piecing together what the Word is telling me through my reading and studying, as The Bible itself reveals the rich culture and history but to find this often takes a very deep and methodical study, secondly I will be using various commentaries and also "Manners and Customs of the Bible" which gives so much information on how and why they did many things during Biblical times. Praying for you as you thirst to dig deeper into the His Word and your relationship with Him!
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