I don't make new year's resolutions. Simply because, I KNOW I'll never keep them. Lose weight, stop drinking Diet Coke (who would even WANT to do this?!), 32498732985723 projects for the house--you know, THOSE ones. I just don't go down that road.
We rang in the new year watching a redbox movie and listening to illegal fireworks going off around our neighborhood (FANTASTIC, I KNOW!). I really wasn't feeling the new year vibe.
Probably because this has been the hardest year of my life.
So as I laid in bed at 1am, trying to fall asleep, I decided to make a "commitment" for this new year. No resolution; no goal--a commitment.
I am going to commit 2013 to PRAYING FOR OTHERS MORE. I was totally convicted by the fact that I pray so much for myself or my current circumstances. But I'm not faithfully praying for others. And I NEED TO. Prayer is SO powerful, and definitely meant to be used for others. So there it is! I'm excited for the challenge, and look forward to seeing what God is going to do around me in other's lives!
Like I said, 2012 was by far the hardest year filled with a horribly painful trial. God has been refining me, and shaping me through it--most of the time, I've been struggling against it. But over the last month or so, I've actually been THANKFUL for the refining. It is helping me to see that I so needed to be walking a totally different pace in my walk--the way I was walking just wasn't cutting it. One area I'm working on is just living DAY BY DAY.....any more than that overwhelms me. That's just how I am.
Yesterday morning, I was reading 2 verses that really stuck out to me--
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No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Philippians 3:13-14
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WOW! This totally hit home for me. It applies to many areas in my life, and circumstances that occurred in 2012.
So this will be my verse for 2013. Oh Lord, help me live for you and allow this verse to penetrate me to the very depths of my soul!
Happy New Year, my friends!
May the Lord bless you abundantly this year, and may this be the year you grow closer to Him more than EVER!
BTDT. Refining, I think, is not meant to be enjoyable, but it gives joy, ya know what I mean? Sometimes I've been really busy praying for others, I almost forget to pray for self & family!!Not recently though. My praying has taken a dive.My verse id Jeremiah 29-11.
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