www.sandraevertson.com
9 years ago
Posted by
Victoria
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I am sitting here surrounded by Christmas decorations, boxes, open toys, bits of left over wrapping paper... the Advent log is stretched out across the floor with the stubs of burnt candles and the smell of wax... the Christmas tree is bare, waiting to go to the forest to become a home for bugs and birds. I cannot believe that another year has come and gone. Life moves so quickly these days. Children growing, time passing. Last year I memorized my first complete book of scripture.. the book of James. ( it was life changing and I plan to memorize another book this year- I highly recommend it!) I quote it back to God about once every two weeks in order to lock it in my heart and hold it in my 40 year old mind, that is full of so much, I have to sort through the random in order to remember the important. Today I quoted it in the car on my way to the gym and when I got to the verse that says " What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" I paused and thought how true that verse really is, we are nothing but mist, a breath, our time here is so short compared to eternity. What have I accomplished with this blink of a year? What have I failed at in this blink of a year? I sometimes think my failures outweigh my accomplishments, but I am thankful that I serve a big God, a merciful God, whose mercies are new every morning.. and every new year.
2013 was a good year for our family. Our children were healthy, our marriage was strong, we had more ups than downs and for that I praise God! Did I accomplish everything I set out to do? no.. I failed at so many things, I am still overweight, I am still a procrastinator, I still have days where I question myself as a wife... as a Mother. I have been thinking a lot about what my goals should be for this coming year.
I have a lot of friends that do word studies for the New Year. They pick a word and they make it their motivation, their mantra, their focus for the days ahead. I am not good at that. I have thought and thought of word after word, but nothing just jumped out at me or screamed focus. My mind is full of words, I have books of words stored up there, but how can I pick just one that encompasses all I need to change?
I want 2014 to be a year of spiritual change for me, the year that I make myself be who God wants me to be. I really believe we are living in the last days. I think they are here and the more I read the news, the more I watch the cultural changes taking place and the more I experience in my own life, the more I believe we have arrived... I read this verse the other day "You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!" 2 Timothy 3:1-5 and it really hit home for me, how much of this describes our world? How much of this describes me? "They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.." That sentence speaks volumes to me about where our culture is right now. How many people do I know who claim to be Christian, but who don't really live it, and this includes me a lot of the time. How watered down our faith has become, how watered down our belief, how weak our testimony. The people of the Bible lived big, they were all in, they gave up everything in order to follow God. People throughout history up until just a couple of generations ago, took spiritual things so much more seriously than we do today. People in other parts of the world right now are jailed, tortured, killed, shunned, exiled.. just for claiming Christ, but yet they do it anyway. Would I live like that? Am I all in? How much do I water down my faith? Do I reject the power and not even realize it? How much do I look like the world versus how much I look like Christ? These are the things I am pondering as I head into this New Years Eve night, the start of a new year that will be here and gone in a flash just like this one. What do I need to change within myself to become more separated from the world and more separated from this culture in order to adhere myself to Christ? I have a two little girls growing up in this world who need to know what we believe about God and the Bible, who need to know what it looks like to belong to God and not to this world. Two people I am responsible to shape and teach and grow. I am responsible to model godliness to them and for them. The way they view God later, may depend on how I am viewing Him right now. What are the goals I need to set for 2014, realistically, because my goal to lose weight, my goal to travel, my goal to be organized or crafty or read more books, will be absolutely pointless if I miss the real goal.. the goal to be more like Christ, the goal to be less like the world, the goal to embrace the power that will make me godly... I have to be all in..
(to be continued... New Years Day)
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15-17
2013 was a good year for our family. Our children were healthy, our marriage was strong, we had more ups than downs and for that I praise God! Did I accomplish everything I set out to do? no.. I failed at so many things, I am still overweight, I am still a procrastinator, I still have days where I question myself as a wife... as a Mother. I have been thinking a lot about what my goals should be for this coming year.
I have a lot of friends that do word studies for the New Year. They pick a word and they make it their motivation, their mantra, their focus for the days ahead. I am not good at that. I have thought and thought of word after word, but nothing just jumped out at me or screamed focus. My mind is full of words, I have books of words stored up there, but how can I pick just one that encompasses all I need to change?
I want 2014 to be a year of spiritual change for me, the year that I make myself be who God wants me to be. I really believe we are living in the last days. I think they are here and the more I read the news, the more I watch the cultural changes taking place and the more I experience in my own life, the more I believe we have arrived... I read this verse the other day "You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God.They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!" 2 Timothy 3:1-5 and it really hit home for me, how much of this describes our world? How much of this describes me? "They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.." That sentence speaks volumes to me about where our culture is right now. How many people do I know who claim to be Christian, but who don't really live it, and this includes me a lot of the time. How watered down our faith has become, how watered down our belief, how weak our testimony. The people of the Bible lived big, they were all in, they gave up everything in order to follow God. People throughout history up until just a couple of generations ago, took spiritual things so much more seriously than we do today. People in other parts of the world right now are jailed, tortured, killed, shunned, exiled.. just for claiming Christ, but yet they do it anyway. Would I live like that? Am I all in? How much do I water down my faith? Do I reject the power and not even realize it? How much do I look like the world versus how much I look like Christ? These are the things I am pondering as I head into this New Years Eve night, the start of a new year that will be here and gone in a flash just like this one. What do I need to change within myself to become more separated from the world and more separated from this culture in order to adhere myself to Christ? I have a two little girls growing up in this world who need to know what we believe about God and the Bible, who need to know what it looks like to belong to God and not to this world. Two people I am responsible to shape and teach and grow. I am responsible to model godliness to them and for them. The way they view God later, may depend on how I am viewing Him right now. What are the goals I need to set for 2014, realistically, because my goal to lose weight, my goal to travel, my goal to be organized or crafty or read more books, will be absolutely pointless if I miss the real goal.. the goal to be more like Christ, the goal to be less like the world, the goal to embrace the power that will make me godly... I have to be all in..
(to be continued... New Years Day)
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15-17
