Oh how I love the new year. I love starting fresh, I love making resolutions (and sometimes keeping them), and I love writing a new year for the date. The past few weeks I have been thinking about what my 2015 “thing” will be. A new race? A new budget? A new organizational plan?
Then I went to church on Sunday and heard an amazing sermon (listen to it!) on the very topic I had been pondering. Like always, I felt like our pastor was speaking directly to me. We were encouraged to sign our name next to two sentences on the outline:
1. I have decided that 2015 is going to be the best year of my life because it is going to be the best year spiritually.
2. I have decided that I’m not going to let anything that will ultimately mean nothing keep me from experiencing what means everything.
Man, that #2 is a doozie.
Then it hit me. I am not going to pick anything for me for 2015. He is.
I am not changing anything. He is.
I am not setting any goals, making any choices, picking my new path in life. He is.
I never thought about this before, but although I am a very goal/task oriented person, I rarely let God into my goal making decision process. Sure, He might be an afterthought, or once I have narrowed it down to two decisions, I might pray about them.
That isn’t to say that God hasn’t helped get me to where I am today, quite the opposite actually. It is just that for many things, He was never consulted. I thought I could do it on my own, and ask Him for help only when needed. The problem with that theory is that I am picking the path and assuming that I know what is best for me, which is likely not the case.
That is going to change. Through His word, I am going to let God guide my year, show me my choices, my path, and my decisions. He is going to be a forethought, not an afterthought.
I am going to let Him show me what I am doing that means nothing, and what I can do that will mean everything.
I am so excited.
How am I going to do this? By reading the bible in a year. I have read large chunks of the bible before, and as a little girl there were many times I would tackle my pink Precious Moments bible from the beginning, only to fade out somewhere in Exodus.
This time, I am using the She Reads Truth application on my phone. I am going to join a community of women who are reading the exact same thing as me every day. Please, join us!
(If you are a guy and would like to do the same, there is a somewhat similar app here.)