My Intentional Year

This year so far has been such a roller coaster of both emotions and events. From my grandpa being diagnosed with a brain tumor to finding out that much of our money was gone. There were so many things that God used to teach Karl and me, but I think the biggest thing was my initial goal of an intentional year.

I went into this year with intentionality as one of the main goals for this year, and boy did it teach me things. It’s easy to get bogged down this the everyday habits of our lives, but this year taught me that often times those everyday habits are what in the end grow us the most. My everyday habit of working on my blog for 30 minutes has enabled me to get a new post out every week for the past couple of months. During the summer my goal helped me to use my time wisely and preserve dozens of pounds of produce for use during the winter. And my intentional choices helped me to read 20+ books this year which in turn helped me grow more and more in my knowledge of God.

This all, though, was only possible because of God’s guiding hand helping me along in my intentional year. Without His gentle reminders every day, I would have fallen back into my old routine of laziness. Without His spirit working in me, I would not have grown as much as I did. Without His trials that He put into my life, I would not have learned how to be intentional with money. Without His work in my life, none of this would have happened.

Romans 15:4-6 “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

As Christians, we are in this for the rest of our lives. Every day of this past year has been for the glory of the one who made that day. And we are commanded to live like this; so that every day will be to the glory of the one who made us. So we must be constantly giving thanks to Him, and if that sounds like it is unattainable, well it’s because it is. Well, at least in our own strength. With the strength that only God provides can we strive to be holy.

1 Peter 1:15-16 “…but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior, because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

I hope many of you had a wonderful and growth-filled year. I’d love to hear what God has been teaching you recently down in the comments. Thanks for reading and I’ll see all of you next year…

Redeemed by the King