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| Whitefield, New Hampshire 1948 |
First of all are God's purposes for my life. His overarching purpose for me is the same as for any believer: To bring honor and glory to God with my life by using the spiritual gifts and the talents He has equipped me with. I have broken this down into a 3-part personal "job description":
1) Be a godly wife [this includes being a good homemaker]; mother, grandmother, daughter.
2) Use my teaching gifts and other spiritual gifts for God's glory -- to encourage fellow believers and help them to grow spiritually, and to reach out to those who don't yet know Him.
3) Use my writing talents and other talents to God's glory -- again, to encourage my fellow believers and to point others to Him.
Then I have a list of areas where I need to grow and change to become more of a woman after God's own heart, based on a study of Proverbs 31:10-31 which I went through some years ago. Here are the areas:
* Myself -- work on kindness, hospitality, careful speech, health & energy
* My husband -- work on taking better care of him, helping him, benefiting him
* My household -- work more diligently at watching over it
* My enterprises -- work harder at discovering how God might have me use my skills and interests to benefit our family.
In addition, I've prayerfully identified a word I want to define my 2014. Sometimes I have a tough time deciding on a word. Not this time; it sprang into my brain and said, "I'm your word for this year!". The word is BALANCE. I have a lot to juggle and sometimes I just get unbalanced in one area or another. Balance is a much-needed factor in my life.
With all of this in mind, I hope to set 2014's goals in a day or so.
This is amazing! Back in August, Wes and I went to Family Camp, sponsored by a sister church several hours away. The speaker that week chose the topic "Balance in the Christian Life," and the Lord has been convicting me ever since then that I need to find more balance in my life. So I decided that would be my word for 2014 - but I haven't told anyone yet! LOL That pastor is coming next week to teach his series to our church, too. We only had one of our families with us, so Wes invited him to come and teach our whole church. I'm excited to hear it all again!
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to encourage each other through the year! Happy New Year!
Oh, isn't that amazing, Susan?! I had been thinking about what word to choose, thinking about it prayerfully, if you know what I mean, but hadn't chosen one until, one morning, that word just popped into my mind as I was getting ready for the day. Instantly I knew it was right. My eldercare responsibilities have increased quite a bit lately and I am having difficulty juggling everything. So this is the perfect word.
ReplyDeleteYes, we can pray for and encourage one another through the year. That would be very helpful! Happy New Year to you as well!