This New Year

I frequently tell Robert, my oldest son, tomorrow is a brand new day. In my mind this simply means, we start over with a clean slate. I find myself saying this is a brand new year. 2012 has arrived and I intend to embrace it with great expectation. I have so many things I want to do.

• Learn Spanish (speak, read and write) - I joke that I’m brown inside, but truly I must be. I grew up in SoCal (southern California). Everywhere you go in SoCal there are those of Hispanic origin, mostly Mexican. I have a passion for Spanish speaking people. God must have a use for me in this ministry. I want to be used of God in this area. I endeavor to make myself usable.
• Organize my home
• Lose weight
• Be what God would have me to beLoving and nurturing mother
  Adoring Help Mate
  Dependable and useful member of my church
  Encouraging friend
  Soul winner
• Use my hands to make gifts for my family, friends, strangers, whoever…
• Teach my children

Our pastor here in Florida has taught on many wonderful subjects. But there a couple that are so close to my heart.

• Pray that God will make my obligation my passion. This is an admonishment to me. So many times I find myself going through the motion of my life without feeling passion for it. When there is no passion the obligation feels like a lead weight tied around my neck. But when I start to see these obligations as my blessings I start to feel passion. My largest obligation is to my children. I am a mother to 4 extraordinary children. I prayed for God to bless me with each and every one of them. How horrible a feeling it is to feel like they are a lead weight around my neck. When I recall that they are answers to fervently prayed prayers the weight of them begins to lighten. Lord let these little people be my passion. I passionately want them to make heaven their eternal home. I passionately want them to be successfully in all areas of their lives.

• Ignite Apostolic Joy – How is that so many Apostolics profess to be filled with the Holy Ghost, but appear to lack a fundamental part of the fruit: JOY. I am so guilty of this. What has happened to JOY, Unspeakable Joy? Joy cometh in the morning. Does your morning ever arrive? Does mine? I am going to start living a joyful life. If I want people to make it to heaven and have them believe that I am on the path and they should follow me, shouldn’t it appear as though following me is a good thing. Would you follow me to heaven if all I ever did was hang my head and belly ache about how bad I have it? My prayer is that God make me magnetic to lost souls and that my magnetism will be powered by Holy Ghost joy.

This is a brand new year. Smile about it.