Thriving in 2015

How many of you made a New Years Resolution? Did you make a promise to yourself you were going to eat better, exercise more, tame your temper or spend less money? There were many years I promised myself I would do better in each one of those areas and each year within a few weeks I failed. I was left feeling defeated, deflated & frustrated because no matter how much I wanted to do those things and change my life I never seemed to be able to stay committed to the change.

A few years ago I realized I was going about it wrong. I was trying to change a specific aspect of my life and thought that would make things “right” and life would fall into place. While eating better and exercising more would make me healthier and taming my temper would help me and my family be happier and spending less would give me more financial freedom; I failed to realize there was something deeper that needed to change.

That something deeper was my walk and relationship with Christ. I was going through the motions and with those motions I was spinning my wheels getting nowhere and was left wanting something more but not knowing what it was.

The year I realized I needed to go deeper and focus on my relationship with Christ was the first year I actually felt like I accomplished the change I was looking for. That year instead of focusing on a specific goal I focused on the areas God wanted me to change. I dug into His Word and experienced growth in Him that I had never experienced before. From that year on I have prayed and asked God to give me One Word or One Verse to focus on for the year and allow Him to work in every aspect of my life through that word or verse.

As 2014 came to a close God gave me the word THRIVE and oh how I needed this word. You see my friends, for the last 6 months of 2014 I felt like I was doing anything but thriving. My life had become such a disorganized mess that I truly was just trying to survive each day. I was overloaded with commitments, my house was beyond dirty (we are talking about funny colors emerging in the corner of my shower and sinks – someone please tell me I’m not alone in this), I never felt like I could sit down and take a deep breath to get myself organized for fear that I would fall further behind and every time my husband asked if I had done something I snapped back because I usually either forgot or just didn’t have time to get it all done. I ended 2014 feeling like a complete failure in my calling as a wife, a mom, a friend and in this ministry God had called me to.

But then, over the Christmas break, God reminded me that He wants more from me than just barely hanging on and surviving, He wants me to THRIVE.

What does Thriving look like? How do you measure Thriving?

The world measures thriving through

• the amount of money in a bank account
• the number of followers on facebook, twitter, instagram, & pinterest
• having kids who excel in every sport and subject in school

But I don’t want to THRIVE by the world’s standards I want to THRIVE by God’s standards. How do I do that? I THRIVE by God’s standards by focusing on Him and His plan for my life and the life of my family.

How to Thrive by God’s Standards

1. Start the day focused on God and His Word. This means instead of jumping on facebook & twitter first thing in the morning, I start with my quiet time devotion.
2. Prayerfully ask God what He wants me to focus on in His Word. There are so many great Bible Studies out there but we can’t do them all, believe me I’ve tried. This past fall I was involved in 3 different studies from leading to being a group participant all at the same time. It was impossible to truly hear God speaking because I had so much information coming at me.
3. Ask God daily what He wants me to focus on so that my home, my marriage, and my family Thrive. Each day will look different – one day the focus may be blessing my family by cleaning, another day it may be volunteering at school and another day it may be running errands for my husband.
4. When something unexpected comes up ask the question, “Does this opportunity help me or my family Thrive?”. If it doesn’t it’s ok to say no.

So my friend, do you have a word or verse you want to focus on in 2015. I would love for us to discuss them here in the comments or on facebook. Throughout the year I will keep you posted on how my walk with God and my family are Thriving.

I would love for you to join me this year as I seek to Thrive in God’s plan. You can join me by filling out the box on the right to receive posts via email or follow The Calm of His Presence on facebook.

In His Calm,