Grateful

Happy 2015 everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful New Years and are having a great start to your year. Jason and I didn't go anywhere or do anything much on New Year's Eve night...just stayed home with the little ones and enjoyed their company. :) We didn't even make it to midnight! We've kind of gotten to that point where we don't even try. Ha! But it was still wonderful because I was home with the people I love the most and happy to just think about what laid ahead for us in 2015.

So lots of people make New Year's resolutions or goals at the beginning of the year. I have done both of those things in the past! In fact, I'm planning on trying to sit down with Jason and go through this Dream Guide when we get a chance. Hoping for this week! I thought it was a neat way to reflect back on the past year and then look ahead and think about what we want to accomplish as a family. If any of you have something you use, I'd love to know. :) 

But I also know of many people who try to focus on just one word for the year. I'm not sure when this whole trend started but it could have been with this. Ha. Anyway, I tried to intentionally pray about this word and what God might want it to be for a couple weeks. Lots of words kept popping into my head - grace, love, present - but I couldn't decide on one. I decided to just forget about it and forge ahead. :) I had decided to go through Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts devotional and also commit to writing down 1000 gifts in 2015. She has a neat place in the back where you can record them. I'm a sucker for cute things to write on! Anyway, I started that on January 1 and have enjoyed it so much. I've always considered myself to be a "thankful person" but I certainly have my many moments where I complain and can be selfish, and have a hard time seeing the glass half-full instead of half-empty. :) But there's something about being very intentional about it and following her Joy Dare because she forces you to think outside the box and you have to write down specific things according to the list. I think I have already noticed a difference in myself and my attitude since starting! 

The other night I was reading in the bedroom and had just finished the devotion for the day from One Thousand Gifts. I decided to also read a chapter from A Praying Life, a book that I'm trying to read through right now as well. And it was so neat because as I started reading that chapter I realized that I had just read the exact same thing in my devotion. I didn't think it was a coincidence that that happened! Both authors were talking about the word "thanklessness" and comparing the verses at the beginning of Genesis with verses in Romans 1. They were talking about Eve and her thanklessness  for all God gave them and how that was the catalyst of the fall. I had never thought about that before! They also talked about how easy it is for us to miss God's glory and grace all around us if we are not choosing to be thankful and recognizing His goodness. I won't share anything else because I don't want to put you to sleep...but having read both of these statements in two different books on the same night helped me to see that maybe God wanted my word to be GRATEFUL; to just focus this year on that word and to try to be thankful in all circumstances and see His glory and grace in everything happening around me. Ann says over and over that thanksgiving always leads to joy and who doesn't want more of that?! I want to live a full, abundant life in Christ and maybe it's as simple as Ann (and Paul, in the New Testament, over and over again!) says it is...to continuously thank Him in all circumstances...no matter what happens - the good and the bad. I might need someone to hold me accountable to my commitment. ;)

Love you all and would love to hear what your goals, resolutions, or one word is for this year! Happy New Year!!

Love,