It's a new day, a new year, a new blog...

Well, January 1st has come and nearly gone and I've hardly started preparations for the New Year.  A dying Christmas tree still stands adorned with ornaments, decorations and lights strewn about the house and presents are laying around yet to find their homes.  And yet it is a new year; 2012 has come, and with it new hope, dreams and aspirations and, of course, those pesky resolutions.

I do enjoy writing down my resolutions each year... better to call them goals.  Each year, I try to find where I wrote those goals and see how I did.  Some years I am surprised to have grown in all the areas I had wanted to and other times, that same goal is till waiting to be tackled and has sat there on the shelf for one more year.

So my resolutions for this Year? 

- one from last year was to lose 15 pounds - I lost 12 and then gained it back, so I guess I'm back to that same goal again!  

- I'd like to have a specific day or night for family time and be organized with something fun for us to do!  It can be so easy to do things sporadically and then other things crowd in on that time.

- I'd like to read through the old testament (haven't done the whole thing in awhile).  I read through the New Testament fully this year and so it seems natural to go back to the very beginning.

- Read and pray more with Michael.  So important to spend time together not in front of the TV!  So it may mean cutting the cable for awhile!? so we can figure out a routine of building our relationship up and keeping things strong.

....and there's a few more.... but let's see what last year looked like.

As I look back on this year, I can see the areas where I have grown and excelled and the areas of weakness as well.  The best part of this year and biggest growing area - Prayer!

This is the first season in my life where I have been able to stay consistent in prayer - spending time specifcally set apart for the Lord, praying more for others, praying the bible, memorizing scripture and filling my spirit up.

I preached my very first sermon to the church this year and the topic was on Praying the Bible.  And the major things that helped me continue to grow and stretch myself in this area was the accountability I received.  We are not called to live this life without it.  We need relationship and I am so thankful for the numerous relationships I have that encourage and challenge me to keep going for Jesus.

My friend Meg and I continue to call in the morning to remind one another to spend time with the Lord and lovingly and sometimes strongly kick each other's butts when we are putting other things first.

I have a wonderful group of ladies that I meet with as well that all want more of Jesus and having a place where we can support and love each other has helped me immensely.

My husband and I sharpen one another and challenge each other as well and we continue to grow together and apart in our walk with the Lord.

My church family is a place where we all get filled up and encouraged and I am continually thankful for the times that I get share with others God's heart as well as hear his heart for me as people from our congregation are obedient in sharing with me.

So if any of you want to have a new year's resolutions this year, one that you could really stick to and work on - I really pray that you consider this one: Plant yourself in community.  May that be your goal for the year.  You will be surprised by the benefits.