Hello friends!
Since I have 2 other blogs (My State of Food and Interval Cardio) this one will primarily be on the spiritual/disciplines side of things. Last year I studied and thought much about biblical femininity. Though I didn’t read as many books as I wanted to on the subject, I still thought tons about it. Here are two things I learned: if girls ever listened to themselve (in an out of body experience sorta way) they would change the way they talked (the ones i’m thinking of). I don’t think half the time we think of what is coming out of our mouths, or the tone of what we say. Second: what is in your heart is definitely more telling of how feminine you are (biblical woman) then what you wear or do. The Word says that – what is in the heart is the truth. I have learned much of that this year as well.
God has been very good to me in 2009 and I look forward to 2010, many changes, more friendships, growth in some key areas.
Here are two verses that will guide me for 2010:
John 15.16-17 – “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
Jeremiah 15.16 – “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joyand the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.”
Here are some of them:
1. B90x. Not P90x, but B90x. It is an intense 90 day reading plan of the whole Word of God. I started this morning, took about an hour to journal, pray, and read it aloud. Very good though. Just means I’ll have to get up earlier. Which will have to be ok with me. That means I’ll be done by March 31 – perfect timing. And then I want to journal through specific books and maybe do some more indepth study of some smaller books. Thank you Steven Furtick and Troy Temple.
2. Read. Yes, I want to read more. I am not a fast reader, that means I need to spend more time doing it. I want to read a couple different books each month: personal/ministry, biography, food/health, fiction or classic. That will definitely keep me changing things up. Each month I will tell you what is coming next and why I’m reading that book. Here is January (the link to them is on the side): Shepherding a Child’s Heart (Tripp), Eat, Pray, Love (Gilbert), My Dearest Friend (Adams), Candy Freak (Almond). Sounds like good stuff for the month of January.
3. Improve scheduling discipline. I’ve been printing out free calendars and that has worked well in keeping me organized. And its cheaper than buying a dayplanner. But, I want to be more disciplined in my daily activity. Not spending as much time on fb, yahoo, google reader, watching tv (glad football season is almost over for this very reason). I want to make it a point to get up earlier (see #1), and just be aware of how I spend the waking hours of my day. For this reason, I am planning on spending 3 hours each week – one sitting – usually on a weekend or near weekend – in planning my next week. I look forward to that, especially as I go into a new phase of life here shortly and using a Bux giftcard I just got for my bday (thanks SC).
4. Budgeting. I come out of 2009 in better financial shape than I have been since about 2003. That is a very good thing. And I want to continue giving, testing God (Malachi 3), living in obedience, improving discretionary spending, and saving for some big ticket items. All of this is fleeting…
5. Improve the things I want to improve: photography, cooking, health, ministry. These things are important to me. If they are important – you want to keep working on them. God is good. i love these things that He blesses me with and I want to be good at them for His glory.

There you go. Thoughts? What are yours? Any encouragement? If you have made any goals or resolutions, then be diligent in keeping them. Don’t give up so easily. Not much in life is worth the fuss if it doesn’t take work. Happy New Year