New Year! Time to Grow & Strengthen

A new year. In some ways it doesn't really feel different than any other year's new beginning. But it's going to be a different year, that's for sure (of course!). 

I've only done the 'word of the year' (or whatever it's called) once, maybe twice, but this year I need something to keep me focused. Personally, there is one thing I want for our family this year: Strength. Or maybe it's better written Growth. But whichever word is chosen, it means that we will look to God for our strength and grow in our knowledge and closeness to him. While we do that, it will help us to be stronger individually and as a family, also as a member of our church and the community.

In this post I will refer to "we" but it is almost always going to be directly "me" because I know these are the areas that I need to work on.

First area that we need to strengthen is our Bible reading and memorization. Each of us follows a Bible reading in a year schedule, but they are all different. Mine and ds' are chronological; dd's is reading one chapter from the OT and the NT each day. For memorizing we each have something different as well. At church we are participating in the verse memorization 'club', where we have been partnered with someone who is memorizing as we are. I am going through a little book called Treasure Path, that has 5 verses each assignment. Ds is memorizing the book of James and dd is picking and choosing various verses to memorize. So while we have a plan, we are not exactly excelling at our endeavor. We need to be in the Word more so that we can gain strength needed to deal with our daily encounters (2 Timothy 3:14-17; Proverbs 1:7; 3:5-7).

Next is the area of outreach. I am not exactly sure what I mean by this but something along the lines of being able to speak to more people than we do currently. For me this means getting over my 'cat-got-your-tongue' problem when I am presented with the opportunity to speak with someone I don't know, don't know well, or even know fairly well. For the rest of us, perhaps it is the same situation. But also I would like for us to be able to speak different languages. Lee is working on Japanese (again) and I am starting Russian (heehee, again). Fox is learning German. I would like to get back to ASL as well. At church, tomorrow actually, we are going to have a missionary couple to Nepal who use sign language, Akin and Snowy Devkota. Akin is deaf and doesn't speak at all, his wife translates for him. I am really looking forward to their visit. I'd like us to be stronger in our ability to speak to others (2 Timothy 4:2).

Finally, another area we need to grow in is being content. I won't say that we are grumbly people but we've got some issues with not feeling that things are 'fair'. Personally I am so grateful that life isn't 'fair', otherwise I would have gotten what I deserved long ago! God is gracious and merciful; He forgives again and again because He loves us. I want us to be stronger in our contentment. Last year dh and I had talked of getting a new car this year because our other car is getting a little sketchy. It's not bad yet and it still has plenty of life (I hope) in it. I was content to wait until at least after taxes to think about if it were a possibility. Dh surprised me with a late anniversary-Christmas/early New Year present: A 2015 Mazda 3. I was content to have what I had already but am extremely grateful that we have the means to get the car now rather than later. It does mean that we have to curtail some of our frivolous shopping that we'd gotten used to in the past. It means that there will be a bit less money each month. I pray that this year we are content with the abundance of blessings we have and not focus on the things we may want (Philippians 4:11; 1 Timothy 6:6-10). 

I know that last area started with "finally", denoting that it was the last but really how much is too much in terms of growing and strengthening? We as a family need to grow in our wisdom of healthy eating and living, and therefore strengthen our bodies physically, so that we may be good stewards of what God has given us (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). Sometimes I've mentioned Trim Healthy Mama on the blog, and while the name is a little off-putting, the 'science' behind the way of eating is sound. It means no more sugar (we would use honey some but stevia and other natural sweeteners such as erythritol or xylitol), no processed foods (or very minimally), and eating balanced meals. In addition to eating better, I would like us to get more active. With it being so cold right now, it is difficult but it's only a short time away for it to be warm enough to take a walk or bike ride around the neighborhood. 

Those are the areas and ways that I hope we will grow and strengthen in this new year.