I started out pretty good and have seen some positive improvements; I haven’t thrown in the towel just yet, but I haven’t taken off with all my resolutions like I’d hoped I would.
Here is a re-cap of the resolutions, or goals, I set for myself and what I’ve actually been doing-
1. Goal - to get closer to God by reading and studying His Word more; spending more time in prayer and by writing and journaling what I study – reality – for the past 39 days my husband and I have been getting up earlier to spend time in God’s Word and prayer; we are doing the Daily Walk Bible Reading plan, and we read the daily devotion from Charles Stanley. God is doing some amazing things as we ‘walk’ through the Bible this year; even though we have completed this reading plan several times, He is opening our eyes and has given me a new hunger for Him and His Word. We often stop in the middle of our reading to dig deeper in this verse or that passage; it’s been awesome! I’ve also been saving some pins on Pinterest to aid us in digging deeper; you can check out my Bible study board if you are interested.
Each morning after Bible study we go to the Lord in prayer; our prayer list has grown as we’ve been more faithful in prayer, and we are seeing how God is moving not only in our lives, but the lives of others around us. Before taking our 6 year-old to school, we read from her devotional book, My Little Devo for Girls, that she got for Christmas. I really like this little devotional book, it is written in a language she understands, there is a new devotional for each day of the year, and the devotions are short and to the point.
After dinner, the four of us congregate into the living room for a new Testament Bible study from our Time with God one-year devotional Bible. This has been especially sweet to me because our 19-year-old son joins us; not only are we all being fed together but each night we engage in discussion and a Q and A session. God is so very good!
I have not been journaling. Honestly, I forgot that I had it on my list of goals; our mornings usually go something like this – get up; grab caffeine and glasses, meet in the living room, and begin our Bible study; followed by prayer. When we are done I normally get up and start laundry, save some pins on Pinterest and wrap up anything that needs wrapping up before getting the 6-year-old up and ready for school. By the time I get back home, my mind is racing through the days ‘to do’ list.
2. Goal – to become more like a Godly wife by submitting to and reverencing my husband more, fulfilling my role as my husbands help-meet and growing closer to God – reality – as you read above I am steadily marching forward in growing closer to the Lord, which, in turn is really helping my marriage – may I suggest; if you want to grow closer to your husband, study God’s Word with him, wow, this has done some amazing things for our marriage and relationship! Because we have been studying together, I have noticed my hearts desire is to my husband and I have been doing more for him; I have noticed I respect his decisions more and just over-all have a better attitude towards my husband and the decisions he makes.
3. Goal – to be more diligent in teaching our 6-year-old how to live a life pleasing to God by seeking and using teaching opportunities every day, reading to her and doing Bible study with her, and by being the example – reality – the reality is, God is good! Every morning we read from her My Little Devos for Girls book and every evening we read from the Time with God one-year devotional which gives us two opportunities a day to talk about God, what His Word says and how He wants us to live. Because of our daily Bible study, we all have become better examples for each other and others as how to live a life pleasing to God; we are not perfect, but we are striving, and when we make mistakes, our 6-year-old is seeing us seeking forgiveness from each other and others, and from God. Even the Sunday school and Wednesday night B.I.G. Kids Club lessons are vastly improving – see what I mean, God is good!!!!
4. Goal – stop smoking by using nicotine patches and drawing on strength from the Lord – reality – the reality is, I am not there yet. That was hard to type; I’d love nothing more than to be able to tell you I am 39 days smoke free, but I can’t. I hate smoking, everything about it; the cost, standing outside in sub-zero temperatures to smoke, the smell. It’s embarrassing to me that I smoke, that I allow this to have such a strong hold on me; I know, K N O W, that if I’d just trust the Lord with this and call upon Him when the urge to smoke comes that He WILL deliver me of this; what I don’t know is why I don’t do just that.
5. Goal – lose weight by counting calories, making better food choices, riding my exercise bike and by doing aerobics – reality – I am making better food choices; my favorite meal is breakfast; I have cut back my breakfast portions, and we have a salad with most of our dinners. I haven’t dug out my aerobics dvd; and I’ve only ridden my bike once. It was great too; I listened to one of my many sermon dvds while I rode and felt great when it was done; I’ve got to learn to use my time more wisely; which will be covered in number 7.
6. Goal – be a better friend, neighbor, and church member by stepping out of my shell and talking to people, smiling at them, waving, helping when and where I can – reality – the Lord has been working in this area too and it’s been great! I have stepped out of that shell, when I see people I no longer just nod hello, I go up to them and give them a hug or a hand shake and talk with them; I’ve even make a couple of new friends! I know I have a long way to go here, I am terribly shy, but one step at a time the Lord is helping me be a better friend, neighbor and church member.
7. Goal – grow my e-store and this blog by completing the online classes I’ve purchased and free ones I’ve signed up for; by applying what I learn and setting a daily ‘work’ schedule for me to work on the store and this blog – reality – I am working myself crazy. Honestly some days, a lot of days, I feel like I am doing all this for nothing. The new schedule I wrote in my planner for the month of January started out good, but it is no longer working for me, I just can’t seem to catch up; so, I am trying a new one for February. Hopefully with this ‘new’ schedule, I will have time during the day to ride that bike and do the aerobics dvd. I hear the Lord, He has given me some great ideas for my e-store and this blog, and I am implementing what He says; because I am doing what He says, I do have faith that He will grow them both, in His time, for His glory.
8. Goal – keep the yard and house up by going back to my daily house work schedule and weekly yard work schedule – reality – the reality is, it’s been so cold lately that even if the grass grew up above the house I wouldn’t be out working in the yard, lol. However, I have gotten back into a morning routine of house chores, and our 6-year-old is making her bed every morning before school and helping clear the table in the evenings.
9. Goal – get and stay organized by eliminating clutter and keeping the house up – reality – like I said above I have been doing well with my morning house chore routine and I went through my clothes a couple of weeks ago and was able to bless someone else with well over 50 articles of clothing. This then enabled me to be able to reorganize our closet. In the coming weeks our family and house hold will be going through more changes, which will enable me to do more organizing and sifting. My husband and I were able to get out into the garage a week or so ago and de-clutter it and bless a couple of different people; God is so good!!!
10. Goal – eliminate debt by paying off some debts and lowing reoccurring debt – reality – ok; I was able to lower our cable bill last summer from $70 something to $25 while keeping our same plan and programming; then in January I lowered our cell phone bill from $158 to $60, again, keeping the same bells and whistles and unlimited everything. But, there is always a but – we had to take out a fresh start loan in January, it will be paid in full after 6 months, but ….uggg…..that’s another payment. On a good note, there is one other debt that should be paid in full either this month or in March. A little here and a little there, it will add up, and once this debt is paid in full this month or in March, and the loan is paid in full in Aug, that will an additional $200 in our pockets each month; not counting the savings from getting our cable and cell phone bills lowered. – if I’d stop smoking that would be a big savings too …. Lord help me please
11. Goal – grow a vegetable and flower garden by starting seeds indoors and transplanting outside when the weather warms up – reality – in October the 6-year-old and I planted seeds to grow in-doors; several different peppers, tomatoes, onion, and lemon seeds. The lemon seeds are doing very well, probably because I keep them covered. All the seeds we planted came up and were thriving, until our cats noticed them. As I type this, none of the other pots we planted have any seeds or plants in them, they are just empty dirt, and two of those are upside down on the floor. We are not done, we are not giving up, I am going to buy toothpicks and try again!
12. Goal – DIY and maintenance on our home by painting what needs to be painted and making necessary repairs, starting with painting our grandsons toy box and the kitchen cabinets – reality – the reality is my husband has had two strokes and though his heart means well, he isn’t always able to do what he wants to do; for one it’s been too cold for him to be out in the garage sanding cabinet doors and the toy box and he’s been having some stroke related issues the past month off and on, but I believe as the weather warms up these things will get done. Our house is 109 years old this year, it needs a lot of TLC; and frankly, as of the time I wrote this post, we just don’t have the resources to get these repairs done, but because God gave us our home, we both have faith that in His time, for His glory, He will provide the necessary means to do the repairs on our home. Until then, we do what we can with what we have and stay thankful that we have our beautiful home!
I guess I am not doing too bad on my resolutions and goals for only 39 days into the new year; I still have a lot to work on, but, I also have a lot of year left, and I have all the time I need to do all that God intends me to do this year, just like you do! I’d love to hear how you are doing on your new years resolutions and goals; I’ll pray for any area you need prayer in and I ask that you please pray for me as you see fit. I’ll give you another update in a couple of months!
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Jenn
It looks like you have some great goals. I have found that sharing how I am doing on my blog keeps me a bit more accountable. I can't wait to read next month that you are not smoking as much. With God's strength you can do it.
ReplyDeleteBeth
https://asheleadsisjoy.blogspot.co.uk
Thank you Beth; I am hoping by sharing my progress, or lack there of, will keep me more accountable as well; it's hard being so transparent sometimes, but there are times that call for it. Thank you for your encouragement, God bless you
DeleteYou have some great goals and it sound like you are working pretty diligently on them. I bet if you keep reviewing them on this blog at the end of each month that will hold you accountable and hopefully help you reach them all. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much; the main thing I need to do is stay focused on the Lord and draw on Him; thanks so much for visiting, God bless you
DeleteFor what it's worth, I tried to quit smoking a gazillion times. My primary care doctor told me to keep trying, that one day when I really really really was ready to quit and serious, it would happen easily. Sure enough, he was right ;-) Sounds corny but I think you have to be mentally ready to quit. I started visualizing how uncool I must look, the smell on my hands, what it was doing to my skin and hair and so on. It worked! You can do it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the encouragement Jan; I get embarrassed when people know I smoke; putting it out here on my blog has really shamed me; I quit for a few weeks before and it was fairly easy, after the first couple of days when my sense of smell was stronger I was appalled at the smell on other smokers, it's so gross, and knowing I smell like that, even if I don't smoke, just getting in my car, the smell is on me, yuck, it's embarrassing.
DeleteThank you again for the encouragement, God bless you
Thank you so much for sharing this post, Jenn! I think you are doing very well indeed on your goals - 39 days isn't long to quit smoking, you will definitely get there! It really helps me to read about others striving to meet their goals, I find it encouraging and it helps to know that we can't all achieve our goals immediately, we all need time. Be kind to yourself, you will get there! Thank you for being a part of the Hearth and Soul Link Party Community.
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