Goals for 2012

Well, our pastor asked me and Brandon, last night, what some of our goals were for 2012. I have to admit at first, I couldn't think of any. It was like the blank stare. Then we started naming some of the goals we have for our lives as a family. We want to build a home this spring and start really thinking about having kids.  We also discussed how we want to get back to the heart of praying for and with one another daily. We're really good at this when we ride to school together, that's our time to do that, but we're not so good at prioritizing it when we're at home sleeping till 9 and hanging out all day. You'd think - you have more time to spend with the Lord - but somehow we're distracted. We need to work on that.

I also talked a little about discipleship. How I want to grow more with the person discipling me and the group that I'm growing with and also to start pouring into other girls. Discipleship is an amazing thing that I honestly was clueless about until a couple years ago.  It's just chasing after the Lord by learning from the people who have done it before you.  It's really less about the people and more about being Christlike. Yet, it still matters, the people you're pulling from, because they've got to be chasing after the Lord and growing and praying for how to lead you to closer to Christ.  I am so thankful for those relationships and want to continue to invest more in them this year.

So we kept talking and kind of got on another subject, but I kept thinking of the goals I have for this year, especially spiritually, and it really kept coming back to me, that I want the presence. I want the presence in my personal quiet time and worship and I want the presence on my ministry team - whether we're practicing, or praying, or ministering through worship - and I want the presence in my church - from the moment people walk in to the door - and I want the presence to flow through every family in that house.  It's so true that when you have a taste of something - you can never forget it and always want more.  I have tasted being in the presence and I really want to chase after it and seek it in 2012 like never before.  It's not like God doesn't want us to have it and it's not like it's something you just get sometimes and don't get sometimes. It's just a heart matter I think. As an individual, and as the whole body, we have to be spending daily quality time with Him, reading His word and seeking His will for every situation. It's not like He's going to show up in His fullness once a week when we sit down to pray and worship and then leave for the rest of the week, we have to be ready to get close with Him and carry that with us all the time.  I'm ready for that. I'm ready to know Him on such a deeper level. I never want to get to the point where I think I've gone far enough. Because Jesus has always gone farther and I want that kind of close relationship with God, where everything that I say is what He would say and everything I do, would be what He would do.  But starting with bite-size pieces, I want a daily, committed time of worship and learning from the Word. I want it prioritized and not cut short.
So these are some of our goals for 2012.....