Starting this blog was a big thing for me. I wanted a way to document my life so I could track my spiritual, emotional and physical growth. With a few glitches here and there, I’ve been pretty faithful. I’m not going to get too rigid and beat myself up or give up because I haven’t blogged religiously. So, now that we’re thisclose to 2009, I’ve been thinking about what I want to accomplish in this new year: I want to meet my husband and move forward with my photography biz. More importantly, I’m hoping that I will finally find God’s true calling on my life and pursue that whole-heartedly…without fear and anxiety.
Here’s an encouraging email I received from a life-coach. I hope it lifts you up as much as it did for me:
What I love about the New Year is the thought of beginning again- starting
over. In fact I love the word new and all that it means. I am reminded by
the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians “Forgetting those things
that are behind and pressing on to what’s ahead.” It occurs to me that
you can’t press on to anything new really if you are still clinging to
the old. You can’t embrace tomorrow if you are holding on to yesterday or
the past.
So what would happen if you just let go of some of your mistakes,
shortcomings or even failures of this past year? What would happen if you
gave yourself a clean slate? Well, why not? For just a moment close your
eyes, take a deep breath and visualize a clean slate. If you could wipe the
slate clean, start over or reinvent yourself who would you be or become? If
you could do something else what would it be? I know it’s hard to do
because our minds can come up with a thousand reasons why it won’t work.
But what if, what if you actually see the New Year as a new slate to
become the person that you have always wanted to be? What if you saw the
New Year as a gift being given to you, a permission slip for you to step
out of your comfort zone and pursue some of the things you’ve always
wanted to experience or even become? Well, why not?
I believe the New Year is a great time to begin again and even reinvent
your life. Give yourself a gift this year, a gift of a NEW YEAR- new goals,
new experiences and new horizons to explore. It really can be a time to
start over, begin again and move towards greater experiences, meaning and
excitement. So, what are you waiting for?
Happy NEW Year!
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No way. I can’t be. I didn’t accomplish one half of the goals I set for myself this time last year!! I didn’t meet my husband (is that a goal that we can meet??); I didn’t lose 25lbs; I didn’t pursue my photography as a part-time business and I didn’t brush up my office skills. To my defense, 2008 was an ugly, ugly year for me. Vaginal hysterectomy in June, Hep A infection in August and Lyme’s disease diagnosis in September–health-wise, I got my butt kicked!! But, a couple of very important issues God did help me with:
- Fear: Maybe some of you can relate, I used to be one of those people that was afraid/ anxious/worried about everything. My old pastor gave a message once and described people like me as, ” People who would worry why there was nothing to worry about.” When all of this health stuff hit me, I realized how my worry/fear showed me how my lack of faith was making me double-minded. Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s perfectly healthy to be afraid when you have to have repeated blood-tests and still the doctor’s are clueless about the illness, but I went too far. God would bring me through one crisis and another one would rise (like they always do) but I wouldn’t remember all He’d brought me through, I’d go back to my fear/anxiety. Where was my faith?? When I finally realized what I was doing, it was easy to leave it all in the throne room and remember how much my Papa in Heaven is crazy about me–He’s got my back and I learned to trust in Him. Which is exactly why I wen through all of this stuff in the first place, I’m sure
) - Cultivating contentment: I’m not perfect all the time, but I’m so much better about depending upon other people, things and circumstances to define my happiness. Happiness is fleeting, contentment is something I can work on daily to lighten my load and my walk with Him.
So, now 2009 is one day away and I’m wondering what He’s going to do for me in this new year. With my mortgage set to rest in July, the economy, housing slump and my health stuff–there’s plenty to worry about. But, i refuse to do it. I give my cares over to God as I think of them and leave it up to Him to work it out for my good. After all, isn’t that what He said he w0uld do?
So, the past few weeks I’ve started working out. Hard. I’m in the gym 5-6 days a week. For those of you starting a workout regime, I’m sure you can appreciate how much easier it was to get OUT of shape that it is to get INTO shape–especially as we get older (happens to the best of us). Anyway, I went to a new lever this past Thursday. One of the trainers gave me a free session and really challenged me to raise my intensity level to get to where I want to be. Sounds great and all, but the problem now is that I’ve been barely able to walk these past 2 days! This is a physical issue, but I think it dawned on my today that it was also a great illustration of how I need to be pushed in my Spiritual life, as well. If left to my own devices, I’m not as regimented about my quiet time, my reflection and can easily sink back into doing things in my own strength (or trying to anyway). God can use certain circumstances to “train” us to seek Him more consistently. My circumstance is my Lyme’s Disease. I’ve been on these meds forever, and as a side effect I have a wicked case of tinnitus (ear-ringing). It’s making me crazy on one hand, but on the other it’s bringing me closer to God as I seek relief. Did I ramble on too much? All I really am trying to say is that He’ll use any circumstance or situation to get you back to where you need to be. I’m working on the physical part, maybe He’s using the Lyme’s to get me to where He wants me Spiritually.
I’m willing to take the journey through faith.
