New Years Resolutions

Yesterday, George and I ended up having the same themes for our classes: working on things we want to change in our lives. George's discipleship class continued to work their way through 1 John. Then, my women's group discussed New Years Resolutions. We discussed the need for change and how to go about it. First we talked about why we need to change our behavior. If God forgives us, why worry about sinning? They came up with three reasons: our lives should glorify God, we should be a good example to others and by obeying God's word we show Him we love him.

Next, we looked at the "put offs and put ons" in Ephesians chapter 4. When we want to stop doing something we have been struggling with, we need to replace the bad behavior with something good. For example, the Bible says, if you are a thief, stop stealing and use your hands to work hard and give generously to the poor.

Because we want to apply what we are learning, I shared my New Years Resolutions with the group and asked them how I might go about succeeding in them. They are: reading my Bible more (Since having Eli, it has been a struggle to find the time for consistent Bible study) and being less grouchy when tired (I am a new mom and struggling with the lack of sleep). They offered good advice: make reading the Bible a priority (dishes can wait!) and pray for joy in moments of grouchiness.

I challenged them to pray about what things they want to work on in their lives and come up with a plan to make those changes. If they are brave, they can share it next week.

After class, I had one on one time with a woman named Angela. She is a new Christian, having been raised Muslim. She shared that she is struggling to read her Bible. We talked about where she can start. I told her that my life changed when I began to read my Bible consistently. I, too, struggled to read it previously. I didn't know where to begin, it was so big, what in the world is Leviticus talking about, etc. I shared with her advice I was given by my pastor's wife (shout out to Kelli!) in a discipleship class. My daily plan is: read one chapter in Psalms, read one chapter in Proverbs, read one chapter in the Old Testament (start in Genesis and read it like a story) and then pick a book in the New Testament and study it by reading one verse a day. I liked this method, because it gave me a plan I could easily implement and also gave me a good overview of all parts of the Bible. I didn't want to overwhelm Angela, so I told her this week, just read one chapter a day in Psalms. If she does ok with that, we'll add Proverbs next week, then add the Old Testament and then finally the New Testament. She was really listening intently and I could see her desire to love the Word. I was so proud of her for asking for help and look forward to checking in with her next week.