So, I am not really a New Years resolution maker...think they are kinda silly and no one ever really keeps them anyways, but there was something about my life that needed a change this year and has been tugging on my heart for a few months now. It was a stronger relationship with God, not only for me but for my marriage and my family. So some things have been taking place around here to connect on a deeper level with Him and live according to His words.
I have started reading 'My Utmost for His Highest', this is the for me part. It is a book that has a passage every day that it focuses on and dives into the meanings and what it means for you. It is very eye opening, as the verses and the day are usually very spot on to what I am feeling that day or have been feeling recently. So it helps to shed light on things and brings understanding as well as conviction, which I always think is a good thing for someone looking to grow, stretch and improve themselves. I am really enjoying the book and look forward to what I continue to get from it through the year.
James and I bought a couples devotional bible, this is the for my marriage part, that we have started working through together. It too has something for every day. It focuses on a chunk of scripture, helps you weave your way through understanding it, then has questions for the two of us to discuss. It helps to make sure that we are talking about more than just the daily grind of kids, work, money, house and plans. It pushes us to talk about feelings and things that matter so we can know each other even better than we already do
For our family...there are a few things here. The first and foremost is our promise to tithe this year as the bible and God say to do. We started our year off with giving the first and best of our income. Our goal is to tithe our 10% off our income as well as to get more involved in our church/friends/community to grow as we need to. I want my children to grow up with a heart for helping other people and knowing they can rely on God for their needs and always turn to him, so my biggest desire in starting to do these things is to set an example for my boys.
James and I have also started attending a seminar at a friends church called 'The Truth Project'. It is 12 weeks of diving into the question of 'Do you really believe that what you believe is true?' It dissects how our culture plays such a huge role in what people see as truth today and helps you understand the bible and the things God has said. We had our first meeting on Sunday and the biggest thing I took from that night was an image that the man spoke about prayer. He said that if we really believed that what we believe is true then why does prayer sometimes not come first and seem like a chore? Because if we really believed that every time we pray we were going into God's house and He was there eagerly awaiting our conversation with open arms that it would never be a chore, it would in fact be something that we would never want to leave! And that is so true! If God were sitting there, right in front of me I would never leave, but really He always is there, we just cant see Him, but He even says that He is always with us, so in every trial, joy, struggle and wonder in my life I should be thanking Him, asking Him for help or celebrating with Him. Pray is not just for when we are at our end and have no where else to go or just for thanking Him for dinner every night or before bed, it is for EVERYTHING! I think that this will help our family too because it will help James and I understand our faith more and pass that onto the boys.
I am VERY much looking forward to this year and the blessing I KNOW that god has in store for us! Look for updates on here about the things we are leaving and how we are growing!
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