What I learned in 2009!!

Things I learned in 2009:

1. To love the woman God has made me to be.

2. To tell my husband when I need a break. It is not his responsibility to "read my mind". Only I can tell Him when I have reached my "emotional" limit.

3. God's grace is a beautifying agent: It teaches me to love godliness and sobriety! It makes me lovely.

4. That taking care of my husband and children is not a reason or an excuse to let myself go. Beginning in October, I began to seek out people in my life whom I trusted and asked them to help me make some major changes in my life. For the past 4 years I have been overweight and unable to muster any lasting motivation to change. But through the help of a close friend and my Natureopathic doctor, I have begun to exercise regularly and dramatically change my eating habits. I've been at it since mid November. I feel wonderful and I am having fun setting goals for myself!

5. That I like my hair short!

6. I enjoy my marriage most when I am encouraging and supporting my man: not being critical and nit-picky!

7. I am most fulfilled when I am embracing my season in life. Right now I am nurturing, training, and loving the future of this nation and this world. Pretty sure, that's right up there with being President of the United States.

8. I love educating my children at home! Do we get on each other's nerves sometimes? Yeah... but there is honestly no one else in the world I would rather spend my days with. And I do mean spend! I am completely and utterly spent at the end of each day! But it is worth it.

9. I don't like adversity, but God uses it refine me! So I can give thanks for the fruit of adversity! 2009 was definitely the refiners fire for us. But I can truly say that it has brought a purity to our marriage, our parenting, and our heart towards God.

10. In September the Lord gave me a charge and set me back on the right path. The charge was to raise the B.A.R. Believe Abide Renew! That's a whole other blog, but it is definitely where I am right now. Believing in His word and in His promises. Abiding in Him daily is what keeps me sane, keeps me in strength, and keeps me going. Renewing my mind keeps my heart filled with His truth.

11. Knowing the details of my journey is not a prerequisite to obeying the first step. Obedience is worship!