A new day and a new year!

Yeah, kinda forgot about the blog for like half a year or so. Life has a way sometimes of packing me off :) and sometimes I do return. So I am going to start afresh! So you got any goals this year? Here is my list.

1. Read more! I am not a big reader, I am more of a hands on person. Love creating, making things, but I want to try and read more this year. My Church is doing a read through the Bible this year (something I have never done), and its going to be done chronologically. So I am very excited about that!

2. I want to do Project Life this year! Hopefully I can get it ordered and it will be a neat way to keep with all the things my family will be doing this year.

3.Be more healthy and exercise! This is something I really need to do!

4. Scrapbook more! I really have not had the mind to do much of it this past year, so I hope I can accomplish some of that this year.

5. I want to look for those "God Moments" everyday!

6. I want to be in God's will and do what He wants me to do. In other words just TRUST HIM! He has the plan not me.

7. And of course BLOG MORE!

Well I know its a rather small list, but that's probably enough to get me started. Last year was kinda of a hard year, I had to make some hard decisions, walk away from some things. But it also had it share of blessings and new friendships! I am very happy about that! There are lots of things I still don't understand but I know that God is in control and I just need to trust his plans for me and my family.

Here is a email I got today. It really spoke to me.

by Max Lucado

Some missed him.

Some miss him still.

We expect God to speak through peace, but sometimes he speaks through pain.

We think God talks through the church, but he also talks through the lost.

We look for the answer among the Protestants, but he’s been known to speak through the Catholics.

We listen for him among the Catholics but find him among the Quakers.

We think we hear him in the sunrise, but he is also heard in the darkness.

We listen for him in triumph, but he speaks even more distinctly through tragedy.

We must let God define himself.

When we do, when we let God define himself, a whole new world opens before us. How, you ask? Let me explain with a story.

Once there was a man whose life was one of misery. The days were cloudy, and the nights were long. Henry didn’t want to be unhappy, but he was. With the passing of the years, his life had changed. His children were grown. The neighborhood was different. The city seemed harsher.

He was unhappy. He decided to ask his minister what was wrong.

“Am I unhappy for some sin I have committed?”

“Yes,” the wise pastor replied. “You have sinned.”

“And what might that sin be?”

“Ignorance,” came the reply. “The sin of ignorance. One of your neighbors is the Messiah in disguise, and you have not seen him.”

The old man left the office stunned. “The Messiah is one of my neighbors?” He began to think who it might be.

Tom the butcher? No, he’s too lazy. Mary, my cousin down the street? No, too much pride. Aaron the paperboy? No, too indulgent. The man was confounded. Every person he knew had defects. But one was the Messiah. He began to look for Him.

He began to notice things he hadn’t seen. The grocer often carried sacks to the cars of older ladies. Maybe he is the Messiah. The officer at the corner always had a smile for the kids. Could it be? And the young couple who’d moved next door. How kind they are to their cat. Maybe one of them …

With time he saw things in people he’d never seen. And with time his outlook began to change. The bounce returned to his step. His eyes took on a friendly sparkle. When others spoke he listened. After all, he might be listening to the Messiah. When anyone asked for help, he responded; after all this might be the Messiah needing assistance.

The change of attitude was so significant that someone asked him why he was so happy. “I don’t know,” he answered. “All I know is that things changed when I started looking for God.”

Now, that’s curious. The old man saw Jesus because he didn’t know what he looked like. The people in Jesus’ day missed him because they thought they did.

How are things looking in your neighborhood?

From A Gentle Thunder
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 1987) Max Lucado

I wish you a great new year!! I am looking forward to whatever God has in store for us! We can trust Him!

I leave you with a song by Kris Allen!



Blessings,
Lisa