Past and Future

Well, I’m finally back after many weeks of absence. I had a few ideas for Christmas posts, but in the busyness of the holiday season they got pushed aside. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas season and are looking forward to the adventures that 2013 holds!

2012: It feels like not much happened last year, though it was still a busy one. I had to use my journal to refresh myself on the main events of 2012 (I think I would forget 95% of my life if I didn’t write it down) and found out that things did indeed happen last year. More of the events I wrote about were inward than outward, however (which doesn’t leave me with as much to talk about in reviewing this year). My thought processes and dreams now seem very different to me than they were a year ago.

It was a full, fast-moving year with a lot of life lived and lessons learned. Before now I didn’t realize how many answers to prayer I have seen this year – the things that I was unsure of and had no clue about what direction to go in have been taken care of so smoothly by my Heavenly Father and I no longer have to worry about them. Hopefully I can remember that this year and not worry about other questions I don’t know the answer to yet!

Work:
I had an enjoyable summer working at the farm again and saw a huge answer to prayer as the Lord walked me into my new job as a dental assistant shortly after my job at the farm ended. I am now learning how to take blood pressure and prepare anesthetic to be administered! I never really thought I’d be learning those kinds of things, but I’m really enjoying it. 🙂

Spiritual Growth:
After reading about studying Isaiah in 2011’s review post, I realized that I only completed 6 weeks of my Bible study in Psalms last year. :{ After contemplating why this happened, two reasons came to mind: 1) I started teaching a teen girls’ Sunday School class, which took up a lot of my Bible study time this year, but also, with going to work at 8 a.m. all summer, I didn’t put the same amount of time into it that I normally would have. Shame on me! This year one of my goals is to focus better during my devotion time and to complete my study of Psalms.

Discoveries:
This was such a fun category to write about last year that I just have to do it again. 🙂 I didn’t think that I would discover any new favorite authors/musicians, but I was wrong:

New favorite author/blogger: Michael Hyatt – His blog is full of helpful content about personal improvement, writing, and leadership. This has opened up a whole new genre of reading for me and I’m enjoying it.

New favorite musician(s): The Piano Guys! I am really enjoying their new album, which I received for my birthday.

Journal Quotes from 2012:
These are a couple of things I learned that I wrote down and want to remember:

March 15, 2012: Your accomplishments lie in the people you invest in ~ and the One you invest in them for.

March 26, 2012: I realized that if it advances God’s causes and plans for me to become a well-known writer, I will become a well-known writer. If it advances His work for me to write my whole life and never be published, I will never be published, but I will be just as successful as I received awards for my works of writing. Success is simply a matter of God’s perfect will being achieved, and nothing else.

Goals for 2013:

This is still something I am thinking and praying through, but I think my goals for this year could be summarized with one word: Consistency. Which requires discipline, persistence, and perseverance – three things I lack. I am really bad at making and achieving long-term goals for myself, and that has to change. So by God’s grace this year, I will:

• Blog consistently (don’t laugh, Aunt Ruth.)
• Sew everything that I have material for (this is a lifelong ambition of mine)
• Play 4-6 piano offertories, learn 1-2 of my bucket list songs (yup, I have songs that I want tolearn to play on my bucket list) and maybe even learn to play hymns!
• Exercise 4 times a week
• Conquer the 10 o’clock bedtime habit (also a lifelong ambition)

I’m documenting my progress on my adorable Peanuts desk calendar (pictured above), so at the end of the year I will have a record for how I’ve done. It also gives me a place to keep my monthly goals in sight, which is nice.

And as always, I want to grow spiritually. Not long ago I realized that I make goals for every area of my life that I care about except my spiritual life, which is foolish. That’s how I only did 6 weeks of my usual Bible study without even realizing it! So this year my goal is not only to finish my study of the book of Psalms, but also to have a more Christlike mind and attitude. I want to be others-oriented; to genuinely care about the concerns of others more than my own. This verse from Philippians 2 really spoke to me a few days ago (Paul is talking to the Philippians about sending Timothy to them here): “For I have no one else like-minded who will genuinely care about your interests; all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.” I want to be that kind of person – not so wrapped up in my own goals and plans that I miss out on the blessings and freedom that can be had by forgetting myself and serving Christ and others first.

I’m one of those people who likes to give the new year a theme or title. 2013 is going to my my Year of Adventure. I laugh at myself for choosing such a title for the year when I can’t control the things that will come my way. But, in a way, it fits. Because this year, by His grace, I am going to learn to think and act in a more Christlike way, and that in itself will be a Grand Adventure.

What about you? What adventures do you hope to see coming your way this year?