Happy New Year

The 2009 Year in Review.

This past year has been a very "different" one for me. Many things have changed
and been rearranged. Different priorities... making for a new and fresh vision for the future.

I have made some GREAT new friends this year and am very thankful for them. Especially one, that makes me laugh. Friendships are great relationships but they require cultivate to mature...I pray that God will help me to cultivate the ones He has given me.

We started a small group that meets in our home every other Friday night and it is still going. It is awesome. God has placed five wonderful couples together, we have learned so much together. We have grown together spiritually. I wouldnot trade them for any others. OUR GOD is GOOD.

I have never been one to be sick or go to the doctor, but this year I visited the doc more times than ever before...UGH..but God is faithful and has blessed me abundantly. Small health issues, nothing too serious.

Also, I have has some personal struggles with realtionships...there again God has been faithful and seen me through.


THINGS I AM THANKFUL FOR:
1. I'm thankful for my best friend/husband/soul mate who helped me get through the one of the roughest years of my life so far. I couldn't make it without him. I'm thankful for the love I see in his eyes when he is with our family!
2. I'm thankful for my family, we have two beautiful girls who are married to wonderful young men. I would have been lost without them.
3. I don't say this a lot -but I'm thankful for our church family. I can never put into words how much they mean to us. I can't express to you how important it is to find a body of believers to join and to have fellowship and worship and to love and support one another!
4. I'm thankful that God never leaves us or forsakes us. I may not always understand what He is doing but I know He is always with me.
5. Friends...I am thankful for the friends God has put in my life. They are a blessing to me. They encourage me, lift me up in prayer, make me smile, so many things....I cannot name them all.

FIVE THINGS I WANT TO IMPROVE IN 2010:
1. I want to be a better wife and mother (and I am sure Marty is saying "Amen!")

2. I want to be a better friend. I probably drop the ball on my friends because I just felt lonely or separated from them (which I guess I did to myself). I want to do better at sending notes when I know friends need it. Or doing favors and not expecting one in return. I want to go back to having people over for dinner more often.

3. I want to be a better Christian. I want to spend more time with God. I neglected Him a lot this year. I loved and worshipped Him every day - but I didn't always spend time talking to Him or reading His word or trying to KNOW HIM more.

4. I want to take better care of myself. Yes - I need to lose some pounds. I need to exercise more this year. I want to feel good about myself.

5. I want to be a better daughter. I want to be better at doing more for my family (mom and siblings) and showing them I love them.

WAYS I WANT TO GIVE AND HELP OTHERS THIS YEAR:
1. I think the most important place your money should go is to your local church. Everything we have is God's and He deserves our first fruits as a sign of our faithfulness to Him. I want to give more than a tithe this year. Malachi 3:10 says "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

2. I want to do more random acts of kindness this year. Paying for a meal in a drive thru. Helping a mom struggling with several kids in a store. Sending a note when you know someone needs encouragement. Sending anonymous gifts. Lord - open my eyes to people who need help and direct me!

3. I want to earnestly spend more time in prayer for others.

What about you? What are your goals for 2010?

Enjoy----