Preparing for the New Year

Preparing for the New Year

In preparing for the New Year I began looking at the past years and the resolutions I have made.  Many like exercise more, lose weight, read my Bible every morning, read more books, watch less TV, listen to more music, spend quiet time with the Lord, put my cell phone down and listen...and on and on...

Most of these goals/resolutions were never met.  Not because I intended to fail at them but because some were vague and general and because some of them I had no conviction to fulfill.  I would spend more time planning the act to plan than to actually fulfill them.  I would find a perfect calendar that I would purchase along with multi-colored highlighters so I could color code the things I wanted to change in the new year.  I would organize the times and days for each of the tasks at hand. 

Sometimes the planning of the goals would become overwhelming and I would lose focus of the goals and become more frustrated by the color of the highlighter I would use for scheduling.  Let's just say that January was way more colorful than February and by April there was no color at all.

This year when I began to think of New Year's goals/resolutions I really wanted to make a list that would be meaningful and impactful.  Goals/resolutions that would make a difference in my and other's lives.  I needed to look deeper and be more focused on what changes I truly needed to make.  What goals could I make that I couldn't or wouldn't make on any given day?  What would be different this time?

There were many things that I wanted to do for this next year but I wanted to make sure that this time it was God's Will not just my desires.  I had to first seek God and see what He would lead me to.

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."

I began to pray, to lay my desires before God and ask Him to lead me to the path He wanted me to follow.  There were a few things that became very clear very quickly.  Yes I need to lose a little weight and yes I should be exercising more but I wanted to seek a deeper connection to what God wanted me to do.  He wants me to take care of His temple, my body, daily.  That shouldn't be left for a new year, just a new day. Taking care of the temple God has given you to carry His Holy Spirit is something we should do daily.  Along with reading His Word and praying.

I wanted to seek these goals in a way that would be pleasing to God and not just to self.  So I began to pray about the things that I had set as goals for my New Year.  This week I plan to seek the Lord in quiet time, reading His Word and praying asking Him to establish my plans for the New Year.

Next week I will lay out my goals for the New Year and how the Lord guided me in determining what they are.  I am excited about this New Year!  I am excited about what great things will be happening through out the year.

Have you made goals in the past that were gone before February?  Have you had goals that you have accomplished?  What are the difference in the two types of goals?  What are you doing to determine your New Year's goals?  

Join me in this years journey through the seasons of our lives!

The Season of Giving

The Season of Giving

What does giving mean to you?  We can all agree that December is the month of Christmas and that with Christmas we enter the season of giving.  I am often disheartened with the attitude of Getting during Christmas.  We have conditioned our kids and ourselves to expect things that we don't deserve or we can't afford. It happens in my home too. Society has duped us into believing we should have these things.  During the Christmas season we need to refocus our hearts and our desires from Getting to Giving!

I LOVE giving.  I love giving gifts of my time and of items someone has wished for.  I love that look on someone's face when they receive something they had not expected to get.  Over the years I have volunteered at a church outreach in Immokalee, Florida.  The church takes donations, purchases bicycles and gives them out to children in their community.  The look of surprise on the children's faces when their ticket number is called is one of excitement of receiving something they had not expected, something their family could not purchase for them.  Their hearts are filled knowing that they did nothing that was deserving of the bike, but that they were chosen without their 'worth' being taken into account.  No one looks at the things they have done over the year that was 'bad' and keeps a list to bring out before the tickets are given out to say 'You did these bad things so you cannot receive a bike.'  All the children have to do is show up, accept the ticket and receive the gift.

The ultimate giving was done by God over 2000 years ago.  He gave His son.  He came to Mary and asked her to carry His son, God becoming flesh.  She accepted the ticket.  Jesus was born into a meager beginning, in a stable, homeless.  God gave us the greatest gift in that manger, His son that would live a perfect life as a tempted man, to be betrayed by a dear friend and be murdered by the haters.  He was buried in a tomb.  However, the gift doesn't stop there.  Jesus did not remain a baby, He did not remain in that tomb.  He rose.  He rose from the dead to walk along side of us each and every day.  He Lives!!!  God's gift of life in the birth of Jesus, the gift of forgiveness in His death and His gift of the Holy Spirit living with us each and every day to lead and guide us is the ultimate gift to an undeserving population. 

In light of the gift that God gave us, how can we not give to others?  Not a giving of material things without meaning and with great cost financially, but of our hearts.  Do you have places that you can serve?  A homeless shelter, a women's shelter, a soup kitchen?  Do you know of where you can give a financial donation that makes a difference?  Here are a few of my favorites.  It doesn't take a great deal of money just one small financial sacrifice.

World Vision  Help Women and Children or choose another gift $1-$26

Donors Choose Help Teachers with Donations toward Classroom Projects $1-unlimited

Pete Frates #3  Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge Help support ALS Research

ALS-TDI  A Research Foundation for ALS

Baseball Chapel  An organization that spreads the Gospel throughout professional baseball

NaNoWriMo 2014

My experience in writing before 2014 was of writing speeches and devotions.  Not much experience but I did enjoy it.  After writing devotions for Baseball Chapel for about 10 years and my life circumstances changing allowing much more time to be able to write I began to pray about how that may come about.  In the beginning of the year a friend of mine who had been blogging for many years about writing was offered a book deal on how to write a Novel in 10 Minute increments.  She had put on Facebook about possibly needing writers to go through the process of the book to see if it could work the way she was writing it.  So I volunteered, not really sure what it all would entail but I was excited.  For a about six months we, a man from the UK and I, went through each chapter of the book as she wrote it.  We did the exercises and took advice.  In May I started this blog Walking Through Seasons.  In July we began writing the Novel that coincided with 10 Minute Writer.  In October we handed over what we had.  I had a meager 45,000 or so words and the Brit had about 49,000.  It was such an adventure!  But it was also very daunting.  I had to overcome doubt and the lack of value I had in my writing.  Many times I asked myself and God WHY am I doing this???  The learning curve was huge and the fear and doubt even larger.  I began to find encouragement on the 10 Minute Novelists Facebook Page.  What a great group of writers, so encouraging.

In October, through a blog I had been reading, I found out about the challenge of Write 31 Days.  I took the challenge and wrote every day in October on Immeasurably More.  Through out the month I found such a joy in writing and posting on my blog.

In October I also sent my 'novel' to THE 10 Minute Writer.  When I got the remarks back from her in November I was surprised at her remarks...they were mostly positive!!!  This gave me a huge boost of confidence. So once again I took on a challenge.

Beginning November 1st NaNoWriMo began.  National Novel Writing Month is a month of challenging yourself to write 50,000 words of a Novel.  I took on the challenge with great fear once again.  I took a few writing prompts that I found online and began to write.  I began very slowly then picked up speed.  I found that making a conscious decision to only write to write helped me to get through many words.  This means I wrote because I wanted to please the story that was in my head, not to publish or please someone who may read it.  So I began to write to write one word, sentence, paragraph at a time.  My goal 50,000 words in 30 days.

On November 29th I validated my Novel and had written 50,264 words!!!!! A whole day early!!! 

This all being said that in this season of my life I have kept walking.  I did not allow my self to sit down, at least not for long! I kept writing and believing in what I could do!  I prayed a lot and decided that I would please God with what I wrote and He gave me the words.  They may never be printed or even read by another but I know that I overcame fear and lack or worth during the process!!!

January bring 365K with 10 Minute Novelists!!!!!  1000 words a day for 365 days!!!