It's that time of year...

Time for some reflecting on the past/upcoming year!

I really, really love journaling.  It helps me slow down, process my thoughts, and focus on ways that God has been working in my life.  I don't always do it as often as I like (ideally every morning would start out with me on the window seat, cup of coffee in hand with my journal and bible...but some mornings you just end up snoozing for over an hour. Ahem.)

I've received the following 10 questions from a few different people (thanks mom!), and spent my lunch break looking over them.  I highly recommend taking even just an hour to think through them!  I find questions like this are helpful in growing me in ways I didn't realize I needed and/or wanted to grow.

So, here goes (first five)...

 - What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

    Memorize the Word.  This is something that I have always had a hard time being faithful in.     

    But, I also know how important it is!  I am praying that the Lord would help me be more 
    disciplined in this way - feel free to check in and see how i'm doing!  I'm attempting to follow 
    Ann Voskamp's plan (this one)

-  What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

    This is a GOOD one for me.  I so often try to put God in a box, and then I end up limiting what 

    I think he can do.  Not that how I think changes how he works, but it changes how I live!

    Anyways, in answer to this question, I want to SEE conversions.  Praying that He would give 
    me the courage to speak about him and that I would step out in faith and see him change 
    hearts.

-   What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life
     this year?  

    Pray!  I need to pray more for my family, but also for me - that I would grow in love and 
    patience for each of them. So thankful for my family!

-  In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you 
   do about it?

This is a toss-up between prayer and scripture memorization, but I'm going to go with prayer 
   on this one.  I know that I need to be more faithful in prayer...so other than praying that the 
   Lord would incline my heart to him and make me want to spend time with him, I want to build
   it into my daily schedule so I can make sure that it happens.  I don't want to be legalistic about 
   it, but sometimes making something part of my routine is a helpful step in getting my heart in 
   line with it, too.

-   What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

    This is TV, hands down.  What do I plan to do about it?  The easy answer is to say I will 
    watch less TV.  But I know myself well enough to know that just saying that won't do a thing to
    prevent me from laying on the couch for a couple of hours and staying up way later than is    
    good for me.  Which, of course, makes me want to snooze the heck out of my alarm the 
    following morning.  I am well aware that the later I stay up, the less likely I am to get up early 
    and spend time with the Lord.  Thankfully, I am at a point in my life where I have a 

    TON more energy than I used to, so I no longer come home from work and collapse on the 
    couch.  There was a time last year where my eyes hurt too much to read, and I barely had the 
    energy to walk home from the metro.  PRAISE GOD that that is no longer the case!  

   In light of this, I have been trying to go to the gym more often in the evening (when i get back I  
  am much more motivated to not sit around and be lazy).  Also, if I haven't had a good time in    
  the word yet and I am tempted to get sucked into a show, I want to try to spend time with the 
  Lord first (or instead).  

   Of course, I know I will not be perfect at any of these things, but I need to remember that not 
   only does God give us the strength we need to do the things he has called us to, but he is 
   also a God that is full of grace when we fail.  So thankful for that!

   What about you?  Maybe spend a few minutes thinking about these questions??

Just a picture from the other night...happy birthday abby!!