If you live in the Ohio area we would LOVE for you to join us on Feb 7th and 8th for our first Bringing Girls to Christ weekend!! It will be here at the Meadow View Church of Christ in Frazeysburg, OH. For more info please message me so that you can come!
Every year at the stroke of midnight on December 31st, most of us feel a sense of hope. An optimistic glow that this year will be THE year! That usually lasts about 2 weeks before people don't see that 30 lb weight loss they set for themselves or the "cutting out" of all sugar, sweets and processed foods, or even not being able to stop smoking even though they have been smoking for 50 years. So we go back to do what we resolved NOT to do and hope that since we failed this year, next year will be better. Here's a thought though. What if instead of giving ourselves 1 day a year to make the next 12 months perfect that each day when we wake up we start a new day.
I think it's pretty vain of us to say we will NEVER do something or NEVER do it again. When we say that we are setting a very high bar for ourselves and if we ever do what we said we would NEVER do then we feel like we have failed or that we aren't as good as we should have been. As Christians I think we should strive each day not to do the things we don't or shouldn't do.
And IF or WHEN we mess up, step back, ask God for forgiveness and then forgive ourselves. When we take it day by day, we don't feel so bad about ourselves when we mess up. And we also don't completely give up. Tomorrow is a new day and thank you God for your mercy and forgiveness.
So how do we work on these things that maybe aren't so good for us? Well the first bit of advice I have is Work on your relationship with God. We hear this over and over and over and over again that when our relationship with God is stronger it is easier to do the right thing. And it's true. When our relationship with God is stronger we listen to our conscience and our eyes are open to more of what is going on around us. We are aware. Set a goal for yourself to spend 10 min each morning or night reading your bible and spend some time praying. Once you have done that for 3 or 4 weeks then add 10 more min of bible reading. 3 or 4 weeks later you may want to add more time. Spend time with your creator. See what he is telling you through his words and then talk to him about it through prayer. If you skip a day it's ok, just pick it back up the next day. Don't make it one of those things like a diet where if you miss a day you just give up and stop. Each day is new and the more you do it the more you will WANT to do it!
Do one thing a day for someone else. Don't do it for anyone else, but that one person. Don't post it on facebook or tell all your friends what you did to get glory for being a good person. Do it and allow God to get the glory. It will amaze you how often you will want to do that when you see God getting the glory.
Examine your friendships and relationships. You know the analogy of the rotten apple in a barrel? Well as humans that is what can happen to us. If there is just one rotten apple in the barrel we can find ourselves becoming rotten. Surround yourselves with good apples. Spend time with people you want to be like. People that are happy, loving and Godly. Then when you find yourself spending more time with the good apples, begin inviting the rotten apples in and be THEIR good influence. I don't like the teaching that we should just hang out with people like us and then stop. No, I think we need to hang out with people that are good influences on us until we are strong enough to become the good influence for someone else.
Find a confidant. As girls/women we can not keep things bottled up inside. We just can't. Find someone you can trust and that you feel comfortable with and let that person be the one you go to about everything. It may be your best friend or an adult that you can trust.
I am very lucky, I go to my best friend about everything. Whether I am struggling with something spiritually, in my marriage, or with other people. I know when I go to her there is no judgement on her part and that she will give me honest advice. Even if it isn't what I want to hear. And she knows the same goes for me. We have a mutual understanding that our love for each other is strong enough that we want what is best for the other, not what makes us feel good. There have been times where she has flat out said "Carlee you are wrong." And I have to step back and examine the situation more because if she says that it's probably true. Now in saying this, my best friend is also my biggest cheerleader and I am hers. Other than Keith she is the first one I want to tell good news to and the first one I tell about crazy things because I know she will be excited for me and she get's my sense of humor! Find that person that loves you enough to tell you the truth NOT what you want to hear, but is also going to cheer you on in everything you do. 
Pray. You have probably noticed a theme in my blog. I believe prayer is the answer for EVERYTHING. Seriously. Normally if someone tells me about a problem they are having the first thing I say is Pray about it. If for no other reason than to get it out of our system. Whether we are anxious, mad, hurt, torn, whatever the emotion there is something calming about telling God about it. Once we tell him about it we need to ask him to handle it. Now this is coming from a very big control freak! Ask anyone that knows me well, I am very involved in EVERYTHING and need to have my hands in anything that I am involved in because I just feel like if I know what's being done then it will get done. This can be a very good trait to have, but it can also be a very bad trait as well. It's still hard for me to give things over to God fully. I have been adamantly working on this for the last couple of years and am getting better. In getting better at letting God have control over things I am slowly seeing improvements in my personal life of giving up some control. Notice I said SLOWLY and SOME. I will probably struggle with this my whole life, but I continually ask God to help me with this. As long as I work on how this trait does good and steer away from how it can be bad I think I will be ok. Continually pray for God to help you give up control. When God is in control of the situation it can't go wrong.
Enjoy 2014. Embrace it and each day strive to be better than you were yesterday. Remember though that each day is a new day and God is a forgiving God. God Bless you in this next year and your relationship with God!
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