Volunteering - My Responsibility

"Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. " -Philippians 2:3-4 (NLT)

Don't live to make a good impression on others. That's a strong statement in today's world. It seems everyone wants to keep up with their neighbors. I fall into that trap sometimes. I look at what others have and want, want, want. But, this year I am going to focus on making a good impression on God. That is my top priority. Walk in his steps and he will lead you down a path full of hope and love. Don't worry if you step off the path, he is still there to guide you back. "Put people first". I hope to do a lot of that this year as I look for some great agencies to volunteer my time to. After much talking last year and not starting...don't sing it, bring it, lol...I hope to get very involved with other people. I may not have a lot of material things to give but I do have my time to share. God has opened my days so that I can be faithful in his word and start putting his plan into action.

I hope you will join me this year in volunteering your time or resources to an agency or program that God has put on your heart. If you do volunteer, please comment and let me know where you volunteer and what you do. I am still looking for some places to share my time with and I would love to hear your experiences.

New Year...New Resolutions

I know a lot of people don't make resolutions because they are hard to keep and you feel bad at the end of the year when you haven't reached your goal. Well, this year I am going to make some resolutions that I can keep (hopefully)!

#1: Have a closer relationship with God and keep my faith in him.

#2: Keep up with my morning/night studies and readings in the Word.

#3: This year I am truly going to work on finding out how he wants to work through me. I want to find out what gifts he has given to me to be used for him.

#4: Volunteer in my community. I looked into this at the end of last year, but never fully committed myself.

#5: Learn to pray the right way. Well, I'm not sure there is a right way and a wrong way, but I sure want to find out!

#6: I'll just throw this in there since it's on all the lists every year, learn to eat healthy, continue the gym and all that mumbo jumbo, right? lol

So, I want to be closer to God, that's my #1 right? In order to do that, I have to have faith. Faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. No ifs, ands, or buts, it will happen.

"So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him" Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)

I have faith that God will protect me and my family and provide for us. But I intend on working to keep my faith at all times. When things are going badly I lose a little faith but God always comes through. Even if he uses someone totally unexpected to send the message. My faith was restored this week and my heart is bubbling over. I totally was in a pit and something so awesome came to me last week and I was shocked, and excited. Overwhelmed actually! God knew I was at the bottom and trying to reach out of the pit and couldn't get a grip on the side. But, he gave me that little hope and now I can't wait to see what else he has planned for me.

So, Resolution #1 has started... now to move on to #2!