Amazing Grace

Today is the first day of 2008, and as I sit here and write this, I am listening to Chris Tomlin's version of "Amazing Grace". This song overwhelms me every time I hear it with just the gratefulness that I have to God for his continued faithfulness in my life. Over the past couple of days Ken and I have been talking about what this coming year will look like. Sure, we've talked about our goals of what "we'd" like to see happen (and yes, as a woman, weight loss is on the agenda). But today I've been looking back into the past year and rethinking all of 2007 and can't help but be so grateful to God for the ways He has showed Himself to be real to me during the year. I feel like God used 2007 as a turning year in my life spiritually, where I feel like I am viewing my relationship with him in a more mature, tangible way. God isn't just some "higher power out there somewhere", or even, as some refer to Him, a "daddy" type father figure. To me, He is my best friend, He is the one that knows me more intimately than even my own husband. He knows every part of my being, he knows what makes me tick, he knows my hurts, discouragements, failures. He knows what this coming year of 2008 is going to bring for our family.

As I think forward to 2008, I think for one of the first times in my Christian faith, I want it to be committed to what the Lord wants for this year to look like. I think that the Lord has big things in store for our family regarding service for Him, as well as me personally. I want to encourage you this year, instead of jotting down on the "resolutions" that people so often try to make and not keep year after year, to jot down the question "God, what is it YOU want to do in my life this year??". On our own, it's all too easy to fail in even the best intended resolve to change your own life. God is the only one that can really bring about true transformation in your life. Our relationship with God, as I heard it put on Sunday at church, is in the CURRENT state of our lives. It should not be about something that rounds out or puts a nice finishing touch on our life, it should BE our life. How great to think every moment of everyday on the things of God, to speak every moment of every day of the things of God, and to LIVE OUT every moment of every day the way God wants me to. I know that all too often I will stray off the path, but I know that with Him He is there to take my hand and bring me back to my feet.

May God reveal himself to you in a powerful way in 2008.