For This Year

I just can't seem to post consistently.  It seems like I drop off the earth for eight months at a time!

Really I just get busy enjoying my life.  Trying to learn new things and live my life for His glory.

It's a pretty hard job actually.  When God says he wants control of everything...He means it!  I find it very difficult to remember to surrender to Him always.  Sin blinds me so easily that I find myself wandering from His words, trying to live me life by my own means.

For Christmas this past year (still getting used to this whole 2012 thing :)), my parents gave me the Godly Woman's Adornment book collection by Lydia Brownback.  I have really enjoyed reading and studying the different character traits these four books expound on: joy, contentment, trust, and purity.  I usually read them as I need them: such as reading Joy and Contentment when I feel like pouting, or Trust when I am not sure of the future :).   I am glad that God has been using these books in my life as a small reminder to always look to Him.   

For example, an expert from Trust:

"If we struggle to trust God, it's because at some level we don't believe He is really good.  If you are trusting in something besides God to keep you safe and to make you happy, you are probably doubting in God's goodness.  Such doubts gain a foothold in our hearts when God doesn't act the way we think he should or the way we expect that He will.  

But God often acts contrary to how we think a good God should act.  The answer we think we need seems so logical and clear to our way of thinking, yet God does not provide it.  That is where faith comes in.  Real faith isn't the belief that God will do a particular thing; real faith is the conviction that God is good, no matter what He does and however He chooses to answer our prayers.  God always has our best in mind, and he works to bring it about, no matter how many look initially to our way of thinking."

If I had to sum up one of the biggest lessons I learned (and am still learning) in the year 2011, it is that of to trust in God.  There have been many experiences this year where I have had to forget my own intentions or ideas, and lean on Him for guidance.   In return, I have received many blessings from the Lord--some of them hidden at that time to my eyes :).  But, I am so glad that God continually perseveres  for the hearts of those children He loves so much. 

I hope this new year brings many blessings to you, and that we all learn how to lean on the Lord. :)

In Him,

Kristin