So let’s do it!
My goal for the month of March was to do a daily devotion in order to draw near to God and strengthen my spiritual health. Even though I did not do an actual devotion every single day of the month, I feel that this goal was a smashing success! I stumbled around, at first, trying to find the right way (for me, personally) to go about this daily quiet time with God. The formula I landed on was:
- Reading a portion of a book (right now I’m finishing up “Uninvited” by Lysa TerKeurst, of which I can’t say enough positive things)
- Taking notes on sections/quotes that were important to me
- Journaling my prayers
- Writing out prayer requests (I would pray over the same five or six requests each day of the week)
- Writing a daily list of things for which I am grateful
When I started doing the weekly prayer requests, it felt kind of strange and redundant to pray over the same people and situations over and over every day for a week. And I felt really convicted by this. I mean, when someone says, “I’m praying for you,” isn’t this what you expect the person to do? Actively pray over you over an extended period of time? Why then, when I say, “I’m praying for you,” do I say a quick prayer once, and then move on with my day? So I committed to push through the awkward repetition, and go to bat for the people I love every day for a week. And the results were kind of amazing. I found that God was actually working in the lives of those I continued praying over. I don’t want to share everyone else’s business on my blog, but I will give y’all one example, because I know she won’t mind. :-)
One week, I committed to praying for my youngest sister, Cori Beth. She has been married for a year now, and from what I hear, the first few years of marriage can be hard. On top of this, she has recently been contemplating her next steps with family and career. So I started praying that God would give her clarity; that He would lead her very specifically in the direction she should go; that she would be attuned to His timing for her life. She called me out of the blue that week to ask for my help on her cover letter so that she could apply to a Nurse Practitioner program… Not only had God given her clarity on what her next step should be, He had led her to a wonderful, affordable program so that she could confidently pursue this next step! Then I started praying over her application: that she would have peace and encouragement, no matter the outcome. And just last week, she found out that she was one of 20 individuals (out of 90 applicants) to be accepted to this program! Now, I’m not claiming any responsibility for this blessing – but I am amazed at how I’ve really gotten to witness God’s work as I’ve drawn near to Him and committed to spending more quality time with Him. And I’m so grateful.
I decided to focus on a couple of topics during my bible study: loneliness and waiting. Any y’all… the Lord really spoke to me on these topics. I’m eventually going to do a separate blog post on truths I discovered about God’s promises in times of waiting, because I got a lot of material on that topic, and I think it’s relevant to almost all of us in different ways. For now, let me just say that I feel the Lord working in my life. I feel His presence and His hand in my time of waiting. I am working to grow more confident in claiming His promises and living in them, but I’ve come to some really serious realizations in this time - realizations that terrified me in the moment, but I’m excited about them now. I have so much peace about my period of waiting, which is the best I can ask for moving forward. Again, more on this later!
This brings me to April. Let me give you some perspective.
Before “The Year of Goals” started, my schedule looked something like this every day:
- 7:00am – wake up, get ready for work
- 8:45am – get to work
- 5:15pm – leave work
- 6:00pm – 10:00pm – make and eat dinner, be lazy, maybe take a shower, eventually go to bed
In February, I added 45 minutes of exercise into the mix. In March, I added 45 minutes of Bible study/devotion/quiet time each day. Now, I’m preparing for a week-long cruise and working 10 hour days trying to build up some credit/comp time so that I don’t have to use all my annual leave while I’m on vacation. Here’s what my schedule looks like at the moment:
Y’all… this is really hard. It NEVER works this way. I’m not usually even in bed by 9:30 much less asleep by that time. So I never get the 8 hours of sleep I’m trying to; and I don’t know about you, but my body really requires a LOT of sleep and NEVER gets it. As usual, I have so much respect for parents… How do people do what they need to take care of themselves AND take care of other human beings at the same time?!? Anyway, the good news is, I won’t always be working 10 hour days. The bad news is, I will be working 10 hour days throughout the month of April. So, I’ve decided that it’s more realistic for me to use this month to continue figuring out how to balance everything rather than adding a new goal on top of everything. In light of this, I declare April “The Month of Balance and Adjustment: Trying to keep up the good work without losing my mind”. I hope you all will wish me luck and continue praying for me as I work to juggle everything so that I can move more confidently into my next goal. As you all know by now, June is going to be a month of huge change in my life, so I feel like I need to give myself some breathing room while I can.
And for those of you who care to know, the updated list of goals is below.
2018: The Year of Goals
January – drink more water
February – exercise
March – daily devotion
April – balance and adjustment
May – read more
June – get organized and prepared for my move
July – join Weight Watchers
August – reevaluate my budget and master the art of saving money
September – to be determined
October – to be determined
November – to be determined
December – to be determined
As always, I’d love your advice and suggestions regarding how to be successful at my various goals or goals I should add to the list later in the year. Thank you for your continued support. In the meantime, don’t forget to laugh it off!
