"New Year" Resolutions

So before we start, I want to say a happy birthday to my blog! Today my blog turned one year old. Thank you to those of you who have read along with me over the course of the last year. I appreciate it so much for all the views and comments and even the silent readers :)

And now, here is my question/challenge for you today:

Are you the same person you were one year ago?

I know I am a bit late on this whole "New Year resolution" thing, but now is when it seems more relevant to me. Now is when I'm thinking about this. To be honest, I'm not really much of a New Year resolution kind of girl, anyway. Don't get me wrong, I am all for striving to become a better person and changing bad habits into good habits or starting something good. My issue with New Year resolutions is more of the timing of it and the "limits" they seem to come with, at least in my mind. Many people take New Year resolutions as an opportunity to become a better person or fix something in their lives, and that is something to be respected. But let's be honest, many of these New Year resolutions fail after not too long, right? I'm guilty of this, too. But I want to look at resolutions in a different light - away from the New Year perspective, away from the excitement of the celebrations and a "fresh start". Why don't we spend every day of the year striving to better ourselves and break those bad habits? 

I assume most, if not all, of you are not that same person you were a year ago. I know I'm not. A lot has changed in a year, for sure. One year ago today I was in Indonesia. Today I am in Wilmore, Kentucky. One year ago today I was a senior at the end of my time in high school. Today I am a freshman at the beginning stages of my time in college. But, there is one thing that I know for certain that has not changed: God wants me just as much today as he wanted me a year ago today. 

That is something I am absolutely sure of, and it keeps me wanting to live for Him. God wants me. God wants me for who I was last year, and He wants me for who I am today. The thing that drives me to keep wanting to become a better person is the fact that God loves me and He wants me and I want nothing more than to please Him by becoming the best I can be for Him. Because Christ loves me, I want to be better. The love of Christ is my motivation. And my "resolution" should be everyday to seek ways to become more like Christ.

I don't want to be the same person tomorrow as I was today. When tomorrow ends, I want to look more like Christ than like Amelia. I want to be less of me and more of Him. Each day offers a new chance for a new resolution. Take the moments that God gives you, for each moment is a gift and a blessing.

God Always Wins.

I just have three words for you: God always wins.

But, if you know me at all, you know that I can't just give you three words and leave it at that. So, here are the rest of my words! :)

The main focus of my week - or rather, the focus God has been redirecting me to every time I even blink in the wrong direction or try to turn away from it, is one of Him reigning over everything in my life. God wants me to give Him everything I have, everything I am, and everyone in my life. Okay, so He may sound clingy, needy, and naggy. It sounds like God is just trying to take over my entire life - nothing is for myself, I don't get to make any of my own decisions, yada yada yada. I know what it may sound like. But who is to say that God doesn't deserve our everything? God has a RIGHT to want all of our everything. It's not even ours to give because everything we have is only a gift from God Himself.

God has been showing me sacrifice, trust, and faith. He has shown me that He has a plan, and that His plan prevails. No matter what course I choose to take by the free will he has selflessly given me, I always fall back onto the path that God has for me. But this is only because I desire his way in my life. It makes a difference when my heart is after God's heart in comparison with when my heart is after the things of the world and my own selfish desires (trust me, I know). Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." It takes effort on my behalf for God to bring me back to Him. I have to want Him to save me and to change me. I have to desire God in order that my heart may be where it needs to be for Him to show me His great plan for me.

God wants us to love Him, but He is not a forceful God and he will not make us do anything that we do not want to do. Isaiah 55: 8 - 9 says, "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." God does know what is right for us, and when we give him our lives, He will carry us through it and guide us. God has been showing me His faithfulness in this my whole life, but it has especially stood out as the theme this week for my life. He has shown me this through conversations with friends that repeat with three or four different people. He has shown me through stories in the Bible like when Joseph had a dream that his brothers would bow down to him and the next thing he knows, everything is going wrong for him and it doesn't look like God is going to fulfill the promise (oh, but He does!). And he has shown me that through all my selfish moments where all I want to do is say, "God, I want this done MY way!" But if God were to let me do things my way, my life would be a disaster. It is because God knows me better than I know myself, and it is because God has a better plan for me than I have for myself, that I am thankful that God guides and directs me when I set my heart on Him.

And you know what? I just feel like rejoicing, because what I said in the beginning is true:

GOD ALWAYS WINS.

And I have nothing to fear. 

And that makes me oh so incredibly happy. 

 "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'"

Jeremiah 29:11