Time Marches On

Despite my best intentions, the year 2010 is quickly fading, and I have not made significant progress in my goal to change my life and lifestyle. I have had a some successes, but they have been minor and too few. New Year's Day, my birthday, and the Jewish New Year always provide a good time for reflection and change. After Rosh Hashanah, I once again reviewed the areas of my life that I need to change. I have come up with 4 major areas to improve:

1. Spiritual Growth
2. Physical Health
3. Financial Freedom
4. Home Organization

I feel the utmost priority for improvement is my relationship with God. If this area of my life is healthy, it will benefit all the other areas of my life. When I was 16, I went through a very spiritual time. I prayed and read my Bible daily, and had a heart of worship. It was also one of the best times of my life...everything seemed to fall into place and I was blessed in every facet of my life. As the years went by, I was no longer so close to God, and this was reflected in the chaos of my life. My life absolutely fell apart. But God was good, and He has been restoring my life in so many ways.

God has been helping me to re-establish a daily devotional time for prayer and Bible reading. I am asking Him to help me with the social anxiety that has kept me out of church the last few months. This past Sunday I wanted to be in church just so that I could worship the Lord. This helped me get over my nervousness, and actually got me there. The Lord has also been helping me with the unforgiveness I have had towards two people who has been cruel to my husband and myself. I have not taken communion for several months because of the struggle to forgive. But God is good, and He brought someone across my path who helped me to see these people as the sick, broken souls they are, and to pity them. The struggle is ongoing because the cruelty of these two people continues. But God has provided a major victory in the battle.

Another victory was in donating my Father's old dress clothes to Men's Wearhouse. After my Father passed away, my Mom gave me some of his clothing, thinking my husband could wear them for church. But he was never comfortable with that. I had a hard time letting the clothes go because of the emotions attached to them. But I found a good place for them to go! Every Fall Men's Wearhouse does a clothing drive for men re-entering the workforce. Some of these men are formerly homeless, some are military veterans, and some are in recovery. It's a great program, and if you have some gently used mens suits and sportswear, I highly recommend you donate them there!

My baby sister is getting married in December! This all developed quickly, but it is the perfect motivation for getting in shape. I hope it will be the start of a permanent change toward better, more controlled nutrition and regular exercise!!

We have still been struggling financially after the events of the last two years. So, I have been looking for a part-time job. I don't want a huge number of hours, but I do need some additional income. The Lord has also been dealing with my about being faithful in tithing. It is all God's anyway, and without His provision, we would have NOTHING. All He asks for is 10%!!

God is so good and faithful to help me, inspite of my shortcomings.

"Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations to those who love Him and keep His commandments..."
Deut. 7:9