2009 Goals

Another year has begun and it has been a tough start for us already! God is surely working in our lives and we are growing through every challenge brought to us. A friend commented that He never gives us more than we can handle, but don't we wish he thought we could handle less sometimes. :-)

In 2009 we are challenging ourselves to:

-Memorize more scripture. Our church does a fighter verse each week and it is week two. Its amazing how helpful having scripture memorized can be! I have always been the person who, when a friend is talking about a challenge I say well you know that one verse....and then misquote it entirely or forget half of it! Its awful! So it is so past time that we make it a priority to memorize scripture. It has been encouraging to our family and I have had the opportunity to speak the word into others lives already!

This weeks verse is Isaiah 43:10
"Fear not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I am with you, and the rivers, you shall not be overwhelmed, and when you walk through fire, you shall not be burned. The flames shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the holy one of Israel, your Savior."

We are walking through those flames right now but can know with confidence that we will not be burned! And when we feel as though our heads are going under and it is all we can do to doggy paddle we can firmly say that we will not be overwhelmed. For we have the the Lord our God with us at all times.

-Clip more coupons. I am such a slacker at this but recently have started using them and what a difference. Wanting to be good stewards of the money we are given.

-Use our time more wisely. We are getting rid of cable and this will help so much! We are also called to be good stewards of our time and in this we fall short. We need to be in the word more often, having more family time, and fellowshipping with those around us.

-(This is just Kelsey) Being a woman of action. I often think that I should bring that new family in our neighborhood a wreath (a cinnamon bread thing my Moms always made and passed out to neighbors) but never do it. Or to bring a new Mom dinner, or a grieving friend some coffee. Mostly this comes down to money for us and I am praying that I will soon have enough funds to bless those around me in the way that I have been blessed. It is simple enough to send a card out when I am thinking of someone. I have a few friends who are so good at this (Amanda and Marie are two that come to mind) and I want to follow in their lead. I want to move from the desire and good intentions of doing these things to DOING them!

-Keep up on cleaning more. Our house is generally tidy. If you came to visit it probably would look pretty clean. This is because we can't stand clutter. But I need to get better at deep cleaning. I have already improved in the last few weeks! Whoohoo!

-Take a stand for life. If you read our previous post you would see how. I joined the sanctity of Life take force at our Church and want to help more at New Life family services in Minneapolis. Its so easy to say that you are Pro-Life but its the actions again that mean anything. What are we doing for young pregnant women? How are we showing that we don't support abortion? Are we on our knees praying that God will end this horrible act? Are we on our knees praying for these women?

I am mostly putting these out there for us to be reminded so way to go you if you read this far! Praying for a fruitful year!