No Resolutions, Just a Revolution

From a Mother's heart to Her Daughters...






Dear girls,
A new year quickly approaches and many people will make a fresh start, claim new year resolutions, and hope for something better. I heard a pastor James Merritt (from Touching Lives.org) this morning speak to this and he gave us a much better approach to this new year...

"No resolutions-just a revolution"

 Drawing from Philippians chapter 3, pastor Merritt laid out a practice I am well familiar with. and I share it with you here. This is so vitally important to life and I have practice it for years. I haven't been perfect in the process but it has grown me into a better person and I have bloomed in my spiritual life and closeness with our God. You can too.

Read the following passage and read the three steps I encourage you to take in your own life:

¹² Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brothers, I do not^[c] consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, ¹⁴ I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly^[d] call in Christ Jesus. (HCSB)

Forget what's behind (Phil 3:13b).  Where you have been is only important in how it has gotten you to where you are now. Look at what you have become. you can't forget your past but it can influence you. only allow your past to influence you in a positive way-what can you learn from your past? How can it grow you? You know you have learned from your pass wen you can talk about it.

¹² I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be.

¹³ No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us. (Living Bible)

 

 

Focus on one thing (Phil 3: 13& 14). Focus on what God as for you in today and the days to come. What one thing can you focus on for this new year? For me, it how I can be more anchored in Christ as I wrote about in the last post. Ask yourself "what goal would God have for you in this new year?" Pray about it. Diligently pray about it. Be in God's Word daily. The greatest thing you can do on a daily basis is to seek Him and hear from

 

¹² Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.

¹³ I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward. (Amplified)

 

 

Press on (Phil 3:12 & 14). Fulfill what is ahead of you. Live each day surrendered to Jesus, honoring Him with  your thoughts, your words, your living. Our life was given to us by God for an eternal purpose. What is your eternal purpose? What has God created you to do with your life for Him, for eternity's influence?

Don't make resolutions for the new year. Resolutions are too easily broken. Make this new year a revolution! Make God your first focus of each day-the anchor of your living. Change. Grow. Bloom.

I love you!!

Anchored

From a Mother's Heart to Her Daughters...







Hey girls, we are closing out another year.  It's a year I would freely give back, to live differently in so many ways. And now I am looking ahead as I always do, searching for a spiritual focus for the new year ahead of us. A focus that will make me a better mother for you, a better wife for Joe, and a better maidservant for God. I think I have found that focus within two words this year...

Enough & Anchored

Our days of 2013 and the word Enough have produced for me the word Anchored for 2014.  Enough comes from walking through these days in 2013. Anchored is the action to turn 2013's enough into a healthy Enough in 2014. Hang with me here...let me explain....

Enough

I don't want my enough from 2103 to mean "I have had enough"...God knows I feel that way in work, in our home, and with our losses this year. I'm sure you do too. This enough has caused me to lose my spiritual footing in each of these areas. No, I want enough to represent a different type of Enough.

Enough

Like Phillip said to Jesus, this too is where my heart and my mind have settled...

“Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.” (HCSB)

I need for God to be enough. We need for God to be enough.

It requires an attitude shift. It has to be a longing of the heart and of the mind combined. 2013 was not a year to keep for the most part. I would like to erase parts of it completely but instead, it has pointed my heart and mind to my need for more of God in my life, more reliance on Him, more dependence on Him, more resting in Him...

As a family we need to make God our enough, grasping to His truth more and embracing His peace that surpasses all understanding.

Enough.  More of God, less of me. More of God, less of you. How? Here is where the birth of my word, our word for 2014 comes into play....the action of our enough:

Anchored

God the anchor of our 2014. The assurance of His presence in our life. The steadfast embrace of His leading. Anchoring us to what matters most. Keeping us on course for His eternal plan with our lives. Praying more. Savoring His Word and applying it to our living. Being Jesus to others.

This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. ~ Hebrews 6:19

2013 threw some pretty tough storms our way. Some days I fell into the arms of God, other days I withdrew into my own emotions of the pain and my feet failed to take me where my Comforter was waiting. My faith weakened in my pain when it should have grown stronger in His grace. Instead of calling upon God's name in our losses, I allowed the waves of grief to flood over me and I missed His rest. I did not mirror to you a life that trusted in God's timing and accepted His plans. Forgive me girls.

Forgive me Abba.

I need more of God in 2014. We need more of God in 2014. So I pray these words from the song below and I pray it also becomes the prayer of your heart.

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior

I will call upon Your name
Keep my eyes above the waves
My soul will rest in Your embrace
I am Yours, and You are mine 

Oceans by Hillsong



I love you girls. More than ever I want to radiate God for you in 2014. To lead you closer to the Anchor of our souls. You are His and He is yours.