~Happy New Year~

How exciting a New Year can be! A fresh new start and with the reality of a New Year most people have a long list of resolutions that they intend to stick to; losing weight, exercising more, paying off debt, being a better person, etc., etc. You may even have a list that looks similar to this. These are all great and things we should strive for but I am not a fan of making a list of resolutions. Don’t get me wrong, it is great to have goals and work toward those goals, I have many myself, but there is a stigma attached to New Year’s resolutions and many people never follow through. Working at Weight Watchers, I see it every year. The first week of January there is standing room only in the meeting rooms, but come March and the newness has worn off and the resolutions fade as the year progresses. Why is this?

Resolutions can be shallow without God’s divine guidance!

I have had my lists of resolutions before too, but what the Lord has shown me has taken on new meaning. Throughout the last several years, the Lord has taken me on some amazing journeys to know him more. Some of these journeys have been quite painful, just being honest here, but they have been completely necessary to bring me to a place of complete and utter dependence on him! As you can see these journeys, I can attest, were AMAZING! What the Lord would show me was that everything I do needed to be bathed in prayer and given to the Lord for wisdom and discernment. When I depended on my own strength, I would fail miserably, but when I put my faith & trust in Christ to follow through on his plan, goals were met and he received the glory! That totally changed me!

I am so excited to enter 2011! As I have taken a long walk this week looking back on 2010, I can only give praise to my God! This has been a very busy year for my family and me and the Lord has stretched me so far out of my comfort zone in many areas of my life. But all praise be to God for all the wonderful things he has taught me! When I began 2010 I had no idea what was in store, and I admit if I had known, I probably would have run away kicking and screaming! Lol! God is the one that holds the future. He knew what was in store for me, but allowed me to hold to my faith and trust him completely to go in his footsteps. What a journey it has been! I have seen his face and clung to his Word to get me through every curve and turn I encountered. My God is so good!

Now as I begin 2011, I enter with such peace that what God has in store, I will trust and have faith! I want to seek my Father’s face even more! I want to grow so much more in love with him this year than ever before! That is why I don’t make “New Year’s Resolutions”. You see for me, every day is a new day to love and follow my Lord! I can wake up every day and have my goals and my plans set, but it is all about him. Every day I will wake up and commit that day to him and commit to do his will. I have to die to myself. I am an old wretched sinner, and daily I have to deny myself and allow the Holy Spirit to fill me to overflowing!

Luke 9:23 “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Oh the joy that comes from allowing God to rule your day! With Christ in our lives, every day is a fresh start and daily we need to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow our Master! His ways are perfect and his mercies are new every day!

Lamentations 3:22-24 “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Welcome 2011! Our family has already sat down together and looked back at 2010 and prayerfully considered our goals for 2011. Where we have been and where God is leading us individually and as a family in all areas of our home, our personal lives, our ministries, & our relationships with our great Lord! What we have concluded is, 2011 belongs to God and we will strive to do his will and further his kingdom! We want our priorities to be in line with his. Because he is the Giver of life and all that we have, all that we are, are only for him and his glory!

I love to sing to my God! Sometimes in the quietness of my home I give my Lord a personal concert and sing praise to him for all that he is! When I sing, it is to an audience of One! All for him and him alone! And one day I will stand in his presence and be able to sing to him face to face and proclaim his GREATNESS! Woohoo! Can I get an AMEN?

One of the songs that I sing to my Lord is one that has become my anthem of prayer for 2011. May the words be a prayer to you Lord:

It's all about You, Jesus,

And all this is for You,

For Your glory and Your fame,

It's not about me

As if You should do things my way;

You alone are God and I surrender.. To Your will!

Abba Father, it really is all about YOU! I surrender every fiber of my being to you! May my life reflect the beauty that is you so that others may come to know you and your will be done!

I pray that 2011 is full of blessings for you and your families! We serve an AMAZING God and he loves you so much! No matter what this year holds, we can have faith that HE holds this year in his hands! He is in control! I can’t wait to see the blessings unfold and his glory revealed in every passing day!

For His glory in 2011~

Allison

Psalm 145:2
”Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.”