Merry Christmas Everyone!
I hope you are all doing well on this special day! I wanted to write a post this morning about reflecting over this past year. I don't know about you, but I am praying and believing for a much better 2022 than 2020 and 2021 put together. There has been so much change, uncertainty, and confusion in the past two years, it's unbelieveable at times. While I know it's not good to dwell on the past and we do need to move on from the past, we can reflect back and see what we learned. In this post, I am going to be writing about areas in my life that need improvement, goals for the upcoming year, and what I have learned. I pray that this will encourage you and give you some ideas about what you want in the upcoming year. Before we dive in, I hope you have your cup of coffee or tea with you. I have made myself a vanilla caramel latte this morning and it is delicious! Let's begin!
Okay so let's start with what I have learned this year. One thing that I have learned is not taking things for granted, of course. This year, I was able to spend time with loved ones for the holidays and it was wonderful! I felt at ease and cherished every moment! Another thing that I have learned this year is it's okay to slow down and relax. I don't know about you, but when there's a lot to do, my mind goes into overdrive, I feel rushed, I start feeling stressed, overall it's not a good combination. The Lord has had to remind many times this year, slow down, rest, it will be okay. You don't have do everything right now, take one moment at a time. As a busy person, it was hard at first to do this, but over time, I have noticed little ques that help me realize I need to take a step back and slow down. Another thing that I have learned is it's so important to take time to read my Bible and talk to God especially in times of uncertainty. One thing for sure is when the world seems out of control or the experts do not know what they are doing or what is up ahead, God does! He sees everything that is going on down on the earth. There is not one tiny detail or thing that He has missed. He has been my comfort and peace over the past two years, I have even realized that He has been wanting me to seek His face. So if you are facing uncertainty or questioning yourself about something, open your Bible and see what the Lord has to say about it.
Now for the areas in my life that need improvement. We can always improve, right? Yes, I believe there is always something that we can be better at or strong in any area of our lives. So here's where I need to improve: Prioritize and be intentional about my quiet time with God. So I haven't done very well in this area, there are some days where I do my Bible study and praying and then there are other days where it seems like I have to fight for it! There are so many distractions around us and somehow the enemy will always use those distractions to keep us from praying and reading our Bibles. One of the things I have decided to do is to have a Bible reading plan, I will try this for a few months and see how I do with it. I realized the other day that when I would open up my bible, I really wouldn't have any direction or plan so I logged on pinterest and printed off a few bible reading plans. Another area that I need improvement in is don't allow myself to get bogged down with lots of duties and stress. It has been a very stressful two years and I have made up my mind that I am going to thrive instead of survive. God did call us to live a life of survival, Jesus said, "I will give you everlasting life" not survival of the fittest. Everlasting life begins when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior into our hearts. Everlasting life is to be a life full of joy, peace, hope, prospering with the Lord through all circumstances. So if you are tired of surviving, start praying and asking the Lord to help you thrive in this life He has given you!
Last and not least, my goals for 2022! Goal number 1, studying and reading my bible more. Goal number 2, prioritizing prayer every day. Goal number 3, start back with my running routine and eating nutritional meals. So a moment ago, I wrote about I want to thrive instead of survive. Part of that was my eating habits, I was eating things that weren't good for me and out of comfort of dealing with the craziness in the past two years. There were times, I caught myself eating a meal or a snack and I wasn't enjoying it. After I ate, I really couldn't tell you what I just ate because I wasn't paying attention to what I was eating. Friends, God gave us food to enjoy and to give us the nutrition we need. He expects us to be thankful for what He has provided and to enjoy it, this is the reason He gave us tastebuds on our tongue! Also my other goal is to eat three healthy, nutritional meals a day with no snacks in between unless it is an emergency. The reason for this is I have noticed when I snack, I am bloated and I feel uncomfortable for the rest of the day. When I eat three nutritious, hearty meals, my stomach has time to digest and become hungry for the next meal.
Goal number 4 is to enjoy the life God has given me. Now I know there are days where I am not okay or things happen, but as I have said, I have been living in survival mode the past two years and it's not good. I had gotten to a place where I had hardly any hope that anything good could happen and I was just existing. Thank God, the Lord provided a creative outlet for me by allowing me to start a blog which I have never done before and He has allowed me to encourage others around the world! My last goal is to continue to write encouraging and helpful blog posts that will increase your hope and faith in the Lord or that will allow you to be in a relationship with Him. Friends, without Him, I couldn't do any of this on my own, He is the author and finisher of my faith, He is the one directing and guiding my footsteps every moment of every day. I could not have made it without Him, there were many times that I wanted to give up and not go on, but He was there to pick me up and say, "I am with you." He has sustained me over and over again and loves me no matter what.
So friends, as we wrap up the year 2021, I encourage you to reflect on this past year and make goals for yourself, that you will make every effort to grow closer to the Lord in 2022. I pray that every loss that you have suffered over the past two years that the Lord will give you double for the trouble. I pray that 2022 will be a prosperous year for you in the Lord and that He will give you favor. One more thing before I end this blog post, if you have any unforgiveness in your heart toward anyone, please do not allow this year to close out without forgiving that person. Do yourself a favor and release that person or persons so that you can be free and receive the blessings that God has for you! May God bless you and keep you my friends and may He bless you in the new year! Shalom, until next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment