Quote for 2013

I want my life in 2013 to be an illustration of this quote that I've always loved:

“Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and says, “Oh no, she’s awake.” –unknown

I'm tired of living my life as a somewhat lukewarm Christian who:

-- is either acting/feeling more or less Christ-like depending on the circumstances I'm going through.

-- tends to blame others for my anger and lack of patience or otherwise un-Christ-like behavior.

-- tends to question why things happen rather than trusting that God's got my back AND has an ultimate glorious plan, regardless of the pain I may be experiencing in the here and now.

--wants God's blessings to be in the form of comfort and ease.

--takes control of things because releasing the outcome may mean things not working out the way I want them to.

God has taught me a lot in 2012 about my lack of trust that leads to lack of contentment in my life.  It's easy to trust God and to espouse His goodness to others when things are going well.  But when trials come that knock you off your feet and you come face to face with your faith, you have to make sure that what you believe to be real is really what you believe.

I spent a lot of 2012 face to face with my faith and what I discovered was this gap between my heart and my head of what I knew to be true about God, and my faith in His goodness and plan for my life. I knew His promises to be true, but I didn't feel as though they always applied to me as I went through hardships. 

So because of that gap, I've purposed to spend my quiet time in 2013 scouring the Bible for what it says about God's character and what it says about God's promises.  In doing so, I hope to be more aware of the many, many blessings God places in my life...whether in the form of wonderful things or things I wouldn't deem wonderful if looking at them through my own lense.

I pray that whatever God has laid on your heart for 2013 that you too would give Satan reason to shudder when your feet hit the floor in the morning.  I certainly don't want to give Satan a reason to sit back and relax this year...do you???

Happy New Year!!