The End of the Year

Oh, my friends, I pray your Christmas was blessed and that you felt the presence of Christ. Our holiday was very good. I especially enjoyed the Christmas Eve service we attended. The music was beautiful and the message was inspiring.

Later today we are headed up to the mountains with my in-laws to enjoy the snow and ring in the new year. We have no snow here in the valley but the mountains received about two feet of snow! That will make for great sledding!

The end of the year has me looking back at 2010 to not only see what all we did this year, but also how was God faithful again to us. I am reminded over and over that He is. Praise you, Father. I've said it before and I'll say it till the day I die: I am nothing without Him. He has pulled me out of more pits than a body has a right to be pulled out of, but then, that's grace, isn't it? So undeserved. He gets all the glory for any good in my life. I believe that I recognize the path that leads to the pit a little quicker at the end of 2010 than I did at the beginning of the year. So I can change lanes sooner. This is the healing power of the Holy Spirit in me.

As I look to 2011, I decided to set some goals for myself. I'm starting small, though, with 60 day goals. When March 1 arrives, I'll do it again. It feels so much more manageable this way. I won't be as tempted to procrastinate with a closer deadline. Do you make new year's resolutions? How are you at keeping them if you do?

One of the changes for next year is this blog. I started this in January as a way to keep accountable with scripture memorization. I've done well with keeping accountable, though the verses aren't as cemented as I'd hoped they'd be by now. I have meditated on all of them quite a bit; I'm just not sure I could give you word for word each verse. But that's okay. Transformation is a life long process, not an overnight accomplishment. I kept the enemy at bay while thinking about those verses and that is a victory! I hope I've challenged you or inspired you to be in the Word this year. That was another of my goals for this blog.

I want to mention here that I had one friend who committed to the scripture memorization and commented on each SMV day. Sherri, I am so proud of you! Way to go! (I took a picture with her, but with my computer gone for most of the month, it didn't get downloaded. Sorry, Sherri.) Also, my faithful Siesta friends I met in Houston, Karlys & Leslie - I looked forward to your emails twice a month. I can't wait to keep going next year and I want to see you in Houston again in 2012!

I will tell you this "blogging thing" is much much harder than I thought it would be. It took discipline, creativity, frustrations at the techno world, getting over disappointment at the lack of comments, and a lot of faith. I've said things I wish I wouldn't have said; I wish I would have said different things this year. But I did learn a lot about myself, my family, my friends, and my faith. It's time, though, to end this chapter. Even though there haven't been comments left here, you've emailed me or talked to me and your support has been so greatly appreciated this year. Your encouragement often came at a time when I was ready to throw in the towel. It was just what I needed to keep going. So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You remain dear to me.

My prayer for you for 2011 is what Paul prayed for the Ephesians in chapter 1: I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and his incomparably great power for us who believe. Amen.