Hello 2013!!

Alrighty.... First off: I'm super disappointed in myself for not keeping my New Year's resolution from last year. But then again, I'm pretty sure I warned everyone that I'm terrible at keeping resolutions anyway, so it was doomed to fail from the very beginning, I guess. Darn. I had hoped to keep up my blog and post at least one Bible study a month, but it didn't happen. Not that I didn't study, but I just didn't take a whole lot of time to write it all out and post it on here. I DID study. A lot. God worked on me a lot over the year 2012. And I had a lot to learn from Him. But, I'm not going to talk about 2012. I'm talking about 2013!

My main goal for this year is going to be, as it always should be: To grow closer to God. This includes: Diving deeper into His word; reading, studying, meditating.... I want to grow closer to God through my friendships, and through my relationships with my family members. January 1st is a chance to have a fresh, new start to things. To me, January 1st kind of reminds me of when we first accept salvation. If you think about it, at first it seems all exciting and wonderful and we just want to do more and more and change our lives around completely as fast as we can, etc... Well, I feel like that's how we start out every new year. Think about people whose resolutions include better health and fitness (I've been there.) Most of the time we start out doing really great and it might last about a month (for me it always last a couple.... of weeks.) ;) And then, we slowly start getting bored and it seems really monotonous and we just get tired of it and eventually, we give it up altogether. Well, sadly, a lot of times that's how we get with our relationship with God. Believe me, I've been there, too. I've experienced that. But, I'll tell you, that's not somewhere I want to be, again. I want to, this year, make a commitment to God. To grow closer to Him, no matter what. No matter how boring all of the little details and lineages (is that a word? Not sure...) and all of those things are in the first several books of the Old Testament might be. Or how hard it may be for me to follow through with reading Isaiah and Jeremiah. It's time for me to say "Enough is enough" and to die to self and decrease in order to be fully alive in Christ, allowing Him to increase.

COMMITMENT. This is my word for the year 2013.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines this word as: "An act of committing to a charge or trust" or " the state or an instance of being obligated or emotionally impelled."

I want to feel emotionally impelled to follow God's lead in my life. I want to commit to Him and trust Him with my whole being. I want Him to be my driving force in life. My all-consuming fire. And the only way for all of this to happen is for me to stay in the Word. To be constantly seeking the Lord's will, through His teaching.

I'm going to make this a short post, but I want to leave you with some verses that I will be meditating on this week. I pray that you will do the same, and if you have any to add to the list, please share them with me! :)

• Psalm 119:105~ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
• I Chronicles 16:11~ "Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face continually."
• Psalm 31:3~ For You are my rock and my fortress; for Your name's sake You will lead me and guide me.
• Psalm 37:23-24~ The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.
• Psalm 48:11~ For such is God, our God forever and ever; He will guide us until death.
• Psalm 119:9-11~ How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!