Sane, Simple, Sacred: 2011 - More than Fitting into a Swimsuit!

2011 - More than Fitting into a Swimsuit!

In addition to the swimsuit thing, these 10 questions from Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health by Donald S. Whitney will help me evaluate the past year and compose my primary focus and goals for 2011. I find them convicting and challenging and comforting--all at the same time!

Do I thirst for God?
Am I governed increasingly by God’s Word?
Am I more loving?
Am I more sensitive to God’s presence?
Do I have a growing concern for the temporal and spiritual needs of others?
Do I delight in the Bride of Christ?
Are the spiritual disciplines increasingly important to me?
Do I still grieve over sin?
Am I a quicker forgiver?
Do I yearn for heaven and to be with Jesus?

I have a strong suspicion that if I answer these questions with an increasing number of "yeses" throughout 2011, the swimsuit thing just may happen, too!

9 comments:

Breathing In GraceDecember 30, 2010 at 7:33 AM
Certainly food for thought!! Thanks for sharing. HOPE you have a 2011 full of lots of blessings!
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Jacquelyn StagerDecember 30, 2010 at 8:54 AM
great questions to soul search over as we start a new year!
I'm copying them down...
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Janettessage.blogspot.comDecember 30, 2010 at 9:03 AM
This is good! Thanks for sharing your wisdom...I am always blessed. Now swimsuit...that would be nice, haven't worn one in years!
2011...may you see God's hand all over your life this year...blessings
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Kathleen December 30, 2010 at 9:32 AM
It is never a waste of time to inventory the content of our hearts. These are great questions!

Blessings for the new year, and always ...
Kathleen
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Donna's Book NookDecember 30, 2010 at 9:37 AM
I agree those questions are very challenging, as well as convicting. So glad you all had a wonderful family time at Heritage Inn.
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EileenDecember 30, 2010 at 9:38 AM
I am copying this right now, and I'm going to leave the list right here next to the computer so I can contemplate it everyday before I get on here.
Thanks so much for posting this!
And I agree 100%!
Love and Prayers,
Eileen
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SueDecember 30, 2010 at 9:46 AM
Oh! Rebecca, what a delight to be able to catch up on what you have been doing.I enjoyed reading about your Christmas celebrations! Your floor, and home is so beautiful, and my hats off to you for being able to do this so quickly. I also enjoyed the photo of your father and your husband working together, so precious!! And the fact of how you love and honor him is so refreshing.
Todays post, really challenged me to do a lot of soul searching. It is really ironic, I had a choice to make this morning as to whether blog, or sit with pen and paper in hand to write goals and contemplate the new year. I am so glad I chose to visit you first.
Thank you for your friendship, and I pray for you and your family continued blessings this year.
HUgs,
Sue
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BernieDecember 30, 2010 at 4:50 PM
Great questions.....Happy New Year my friend, may God bless you and your family with health and happiness......:-)Hugs
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PatDecember 30, 2010 at 8:04 PM
Great questions and non fattening too, the only thing that will grow is your heart in wisdom!
Happy New year my friend!!
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"We simplify, not just to be less busy, even though we may be right to pursue that. Rather, we simplify to remove distractions from our pursuit of Christ. We prune activities from our lives, not only to get organized, but also that our devotion to Christ and service for His kingdom will be more fruitful. We simplify, not merely to save time, but to eliminate hindrances to the time we devote to knowing Christ. All the reasons we simplify should eventually lead us to Jesus Christ!" (Donald S. Whitney)

Dedicated to my sister-in-law, Beth--a TRUE home manager....

"I work for a King. He has put me in charge of his home. When He comes to see how I have managed His possessions and His children, I do not want to be found wanting. I want to do my best. Everything I have is on loan from Him. I have room and board and a job to do, but it is all for Him. Therefore I want to dress my best and do my best in all my work. I also want to be creative, for this is a sincere attempt to glorify Him and His beautiful creation. How I manage my home is a form of worship to Him." --Lydia Sherman

"A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry,
and see a fine picture every day of his life,
in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul."

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Contentment makes poor men rich.

-Benjamin Franklin

"What I am gradually discovering is that in the writing I come in touch with the Spirit of God." ~ Nouwen

~~"Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting."~~Edmund Burke

C.S. Lewis: "To trust Him means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in trusting a person if you wouldn't take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him."

"To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common--this is my symphony." William Henry Channing

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Apostle Paul: "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)

"It's a good thing to have all the props pulled out from under us occasionally. It gives us some sense of what is rock under our feet, and what is sand. It stops us from taking anything for granted. It has also taught me alot about living in the immediate moment. I am somehow managing to live one day, one hour at a time." Madeleine L'Engle

FIVE CERTAINTIES
WITH WHICH TO
START YOUR DAY

God holds you. Each day he carries us in his arms. Psalm 68:19 NLT
God sustains you. THE LORD is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack. Psalm 23:1 AMP
God covers you. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings shall you trust. Psalm 91:4 AMP
God pours His love upon you. Through each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me. Psalm 42:8 NLT
God will not fail you. The unfailing love of the Lord never ends! Lamentations 3:22 NLT

THE BLOGGER'S PRAYER Lord, help me to learn to spell without spellcheck, manage to visit all that visit me, and post regularly - all in 5 minutes a day, so that I can clean house and take care of my family. Help me to not look at every occurrence in my life as a blog post, and to quit taking pictures of weird things to share as well. Please Lord, help me to stop talking about my blog friends as though they are next door neighbors or someone I have known all of my life. And help me, dear Lord, to think of something witty and wise to post tomorrow.
Love, The Dust Bunny Hostage

Sane, Simple, Sacred

Mercy

2011 - More than Fitting into a Swimsuit!

9 comments:

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