2008

I cannot believe that 2008 is almost over.

ONLY by God's mercy and compassion are we able to look back on this year and smile now. There were so many tears this year, especially at the beginning.

My relationship with Mike would not be what it is today had it not been what we went through. I would never and will never go through that again. However, if 10 years ago someone said "would you marry Mike if you knew that he would be a strong, faithful believer in Jesus Christ, the spiritual leader in your home, love you and your children like God intends in 10 years after a VERY difficult year, would you still marry him?" YES. It took 13 years of prayer for Mike to become a believer. We are married today only by God's grace. This past October was 11 years. But 1 year with Christ as the foundation. That foundation makes all of the difference in the world. I am a different person than I was last year, Mike is different, the girls are too.
We made many positive changes this year. In January we turned the TV off. The girls get to watch DVD's and Saturday morning cartoons. We spend alot more time talking and developing relationships with each other. It has been awesome and we do not miss the tube at all. I got a M-F job and am home every evening. That took a little getting used to because I did the three 12 hour shifts/week. Now I love having the evenings, weekends and holidays with my family. We sold our boat, sold our rent house, we are involved in 2 lifegroups, we went on our first mission trip, we got started in BSF and are learning so much about Moses ( in fact we are on a 3 week break and I miss Moses) we started to go downtown and help give sandwiches to the homeless and pray with them. I am also best friends with Esther right now (in Beth Moore's study, the life of Esther, It's Tough Being a Woman)

We want to live our lives for God, we want to go where God wants us, not just invite Him where we want to go. That is hard. So many days I pray for God to "be with me", instead I should be praying for me to be with God.

We are so thankful for the many friends we have made this year. Special people who God brought into our
lives. We had dinner with Sheila and Gary last night. It was so much fun to fellowship with them. They have raised their boys and now have grandchildren. I want to emulate their relationship with each other, God, their family.

This year I don't want to indulge in things for myself. I want to give more, to be rich in deeds like 1 Tim 6:18 says "Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share".

This year I want us to have a spiritually centered one with the values that are laid out for us in scripture.

This year I want to be a woman after God's heart, to be God's friend. In Exodus 33:11 it says that the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Wow! I have these Holy Scriptures in front of me, I want God to speak to me like He is speaking to His friend.

Happy New Year!!!