Category Archives: Goals

RENEW Year

It’s time.Everyone is summing up last year and making lists for the year to come. I look for a dislike button somewhere to push.

Gray. Everywhere gray.

All around the sparkle is being deleted, decorations are crated, peace and good cheer ebbs. I listen to them boast of being glad of its ending.

Today is not different, this last day of the Christmas season. It comes and I fight hard to battle it down, just as in years past. I war against the blah and the gray-blueness of emotion. I struggle to find air in a world quickly pressing to go back to the business of busyness.

But not me, ever the procrastinator. I sit, type thoughts into words while twinkle lights reflect onto my screen. Me trying to hang on, my efforts preserve the spirit a bit longer. I am not ready yet. I glance over at the ornaments that still dangle from green branches. It has to be different this time. Goals are for the days ahead.The journal unblemished, I hold my pen.

Renew. I must return daily to my first love, the One who gives me life. I plead for a renewed passion for fellowship with God and a renewed hunger for His Word . Restore the joy of my salvation, Lord!

Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long. Ps. 25:4-5.

Renew Commitment. I want to know Him more. I want to live life more fully for His glory.This is your life’s work for all of us. Rekindle Your fire in me, Father, to tell others the gospel story. I must finish well!

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Rm.1:16.

Renew vows. I pray for our marriage, to cherish my husband more, to build him up and submit to his loving care. I pray for renewed devotion.

Wives submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Col. 3:18.

Renew zeal. I want to be a prayer warrior for my children and grandchildren. I pray for a hedge of protection around them. I pray that they will know Your saving grace and walk boldly in the Truth.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph. 2:8-9.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, Deut. 6:5-7.

Renew health. I offer my body as living sacrifice unto Him and pray that I can strengthen my earthly vessel in order to serve Him better.

Remake me. Potter, I am your clay.

But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Is.64:8.

Our bodies are a temple…

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. I Cor. 3:16-17.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Rm. 12:2.

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. I Cor. 6:19-20.

Help me recharge and rest in you, Lord.

But be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Rm. 12:2.

Refresh.

In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. Ps.4:8.

Renew friendships. I long to enjoy the fellowship of the saints. I want to reconnect with those I have not seen in a while. Reunite. Build up.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. Hb.10:24-25.

You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to a be a holy priesthood. I Pt.2:5.

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Pv.27:17.

Renew priorities. I pray to become a better steward of the time and resources I have been given. Help me re-gift what I have been given to bless others in your name.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Gal. 5:22-23.

Reaffirm and encourage.Help me repay your loving kindness and reflect your glory.

Restructure.

Revise plans.