New Year....New Me!

This is my first post of the new year. I love new things...new clothes, that new car smell, newborn babies, a new day, and especially a new year. It gives me time to reflect on the last year and set goals and make changes in the new one. I am so thankful that God must have known that we couldn't handle more than 24 hours and he created a new day too....I am glad I get a fresh start every 24 hours and that God's mercies are new every morning. That is how I feel about the new year too! It is a fresh start and anything is possible...I love dreaming about what could happen this year in my life and in the lives of friends and family...in one year things can change so much. My pastor said the other day that "God can do in 5 minutes what it would take us 50 years to accomplish.!" I am looking forward to all God has in store in 2011!!

I usually make new years resolutions, but this year God gave me more of a theme for the year instead .

The theme He gave me is........discipline!

As the new year began I started thinking about areas in my life that needed to change and what my resolutions would be and God showed me that they all had to do with being disciplined in different areas of my life...spiritually, physically, socially, emotionally, and financially.

Spiritually

I want to be more disciplined in my spiritual life and spend more time with God each day. My favorite time of the day is in the morning with God..I call this my quiet time with Him. I usually read the Bible, pray, listen to music, write in my journal, whatever God leads me to do, but I have to confess there have been too many mornings where my alarm goes off and I hit snooze and only end up having 5 minutes with God or none at all. This is why I want to be more disciplined in this area and go to bed earlier so that I can wake up rested and spend time with God every morning...quality time not rushed time!

Physically

This year I want to be healthier. I want to learn to cook healthier foods and eat healthier. I have been pretty disciplined with exercising this past year, but I want to try something new like taking a dance class this year, taking a Zumba class, go hiking...something fun! If you have any really good, healthy recipes please share!!!

Socially

This one might seem a little strange but what God is showing me is that I need to be more disciplined in this area and choose my friends carefully like it says in Proverbs 12:26 "The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray." God showed me that this applies to facebook too! I just recently got on facebook for the second time. The first time I got on there was about a year ago and I got freaked out when certain people from my past tried to reconnect with me and I just got off. I think facebook is great for people that were Christians all their lives, had Chritstian friends in high school and college and they want to reconnect with everyone, but for people like me who were not Christians in high school and part of college it can be very dangerous and a reminder of a past you have left behind. I know I may sound like I am over exaggerating, but God says to leave the past behind and press on to the new things He has in store. God showed me that I need to go through my "friends" on fb and weed out the ones that remind me of my past in a negative way and make room for the new "friends" He has and will put in my life that remind me of my new life in Him!!

Emotionally

This area is one where God showed me I need to be more disciplined in guarding my heart. The Bible says in Proverbs 4:23 "to guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life" NLT. For me this means being disciplined in the things I allow into my heart. For example, the t.v. shows I watch, the music I listen to, the things I spend my time doing, what I look at on the Internet, the books and magazines I read, etc... Your eyes, ears, and mouth are all gateways into your heart. God has shown me some things in my life I need to let go of. One example is not watching "The Bachelor" this year. I love that show and it is so entertaining to watch, but such and ungodly example of dating. I read two books in college after I rededicated my life to Christ that completely changed my view of dating. One was "I kissed dating goodbye" and the other "Passion and Purity." After reading these books I decided to give up dating and trust God to bring my husband into my life in His time and His way. Of course, I will go on a date if I am asked and I feel okay about it, but I won't continue to date that person if I don't feel like God is leading us together in marriage. So, I need to guard my heart from watching a show that is completely opposite of God's way of dating...the women are throwing themselves at this man they barely know and they all want to marry him...they are all kissing him and trying to basically seduce him.....I could go on and this could be another post so I will stop and maybe right one later, but you get the idea.

Financially

I am excited to start this year on a new budget...I am going to do the envelope system and see how that works. My friend Britni and her husband do it and I have tried it before but never stuck to it. I am pretty good already with my money, but I really want to start saving more and the envelope system will help. If you don't know what the envelope system is...it is where you take cash out of each paycheck and literally put it in envelopes to use for specific areas like gas, groceries, entertainment, etc... When the cash runs out that is all you get until next payday. It is harder for me to spend cash so it really works for me.

My prayer for 2011 is that God will helps me continue to be more disciplined in these areas and that this truly is a new year..new me!.