Heart Choices: 2008-12-28 -->

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Laced With Grace Giveaway ~ January



I wanted to announce the January giveaway at Laced with Grace. If you've never visited this blog, I would highly recommend you check it out. It's a great place to receive encouragement, read devotionals and interact with other women.

The January giveaway is a DVD series called "Living the Gospel in Relationships" by Tara Barthel. Lori of Lori's Reflections recently had the opportunity to interview the author Tara. You can read that interview on Laced with Grace.

To be eligible for this giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment on the Laced with Grace post or any of the other daily devotionals written by the team. You can enter every day up until January 31st. The winner will be announced on February 1st. The DVD series includes 8 teaching sessions that last about 40 minutes and five study guide/journals.

I'm also very excited and honored that I've been asked to contribute a monthly post to Laced with Grace. I hope you'll check out my profile page on Laced with Grace.

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New Year's Resolutions




Happy 2009! Do you make New Year's resolutions? Or are you one of those people who doesn't like to set goals? After all, it's so hard to keep them.

I remember hearing Zig Ziglar say that if you don't set any goals to work towards, you're a ...wandering generality.

I never used to set goals until I got married 24 years ago. You see, my husband is a goal setter. On our first New Year's Day together, he asked me about my goals for the year. I looked at him and said something like "Honey, I don't know. I guess I'll just have to see what happens." No wonder things weren't quite happening. I really didn't know where I was going besides getting married.

Setting goals is one thing ...but achieving your goals is another.

Taking the time to write down your goals, along with a plan of action will increase your likelihood of success. I think people get discouraged because they don't seem to stick with their goals beyond a few weeks. So, why bother setting yourself up for failure?

I pulled out a performance planner I purchased years ago through the Zig Ziglar Organization. Glancing through the pages, I realized how much time, effort and thought I had given to this process.

The sections for creating and achieving my goals included the following:


  • Create a wild idea sheet. This is fun! All you do is take a sheet of paper and let your imagination go wild. You print everything you want to be, do and have. Don't think it through; just write it down quickly. They say that printing it frees your creative right brain to use your imagination. I don't know how scientific that is but my page was filled.

  • Wait at least 24-48 hours and then go back to your wild idea sheet. Ask yourself "why?" beside each item that you wrote down. This helps to eliminate the frivolous items on your list.

  • Take your wittled down list of goals and list the benefits you will obtain from reaching that goal. I ended up with six goals that I worked on that year.

  • List the obstacles you need to overcome.

  • List the skills or knowledge you may need to acquire to reach them.

  • List any people, groups or organizations that might help you.

  • List steps for a plan of action to reach your goals.

I was amazed to read through my lists and realized that I actually achieved five out of the six goals I had set for that year. And the areas of my life I covered were physical, finances, relationships, spiritual and career growth.


NewYear

My friend Lori of Lori's Reflections posted her New Year's Meditations in place of resolutions. I hope you'll check her site where you can find links to other blogs who also participated.

This year my list includes three areas, just like the focus of Heart Choices; body, mind and spirit.

Body: My goal is to work on my flexibility and strength. I work out aerobically but as you get older you lose muscle mass and flexibility. I also want to add more fiber and vegetables to my diet and to eat smaller portion sizes.

Mind: My goal is to focus on my writing. Blogging has been such a creative outlet for me. I rediscovered my love for writing.

Spirit: My goal is to grow in my relationship with the Lord. I am currently studying the book of Hebrews. Learning to enter the rest of God has been a struggle for me. My flesh gets in the way.

How about you? How do you want to grow in 2009? As you reflect back on 2008, are there some areas of your life that you'd like to change going forward? Do you write down your goals? I'd love to hear from you.

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Searching for Satisfaction


Where do you search for satisfaction?

Where do you look to satisfy your emotional longing for affirmation, love and acceptance?

Do you find yourself trying to meet your needs in your own way?

How many times have you opened the refrigerator to search for something to eat ...when you're not really hungry?

Or looked to others to try to make you feel good about yourself?

I was honored to write a guest post for Lynn at Spiritually Unequal Marriage today.

Now, before you say that's not me. My husband shares my faith or I don't have a husband; I'm single. We all search for satisfaction in one way or another. I think there's a message for all of us, no matter what our marriage status actually is.

So, I hope you'll stop by and read this guest post.

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Thankful Thursday ~ Looking Back


Happy New Year! I'm so glad that Thankful Thursday landed on New Year's Day 2009. The theme for this thankful Thursday is "looking back".

As I reflect on 2008, I want to be sure I learn the lessons I need to learn so I can move forward in confidence and hope ...by faith.

2008 was a difficult and challenging year for me. I think the emotion I struggled with the most was fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of loss.

So here's my thankful list as I look back to 2008:
  • I'm God's child and He has and will continue to help me. Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." So, even though I don't always see the road ahead, I can be thankful that He is teaching me to trust Him and then ...I don't need to fear.
  • The blogging world has become such a blessing to me. In 2008, I became more consistent and focused on writing blog posts. And I discovered that I really enjoy writing! I've received encouragement from so many sources; people I've never met face to face ...yet! I'm so thankful for people taking the time to comment, to offer words of encouragement and advice and sometimes words to ponder, learn and to grow.
  • Help often came from unexpected places. In 2008, I guess I was a bit surprised by people and events that were such a help to me. My family, my group of 12, my closest friends, my church family and my new blogging friends! My friend Karen shared something from her heart with me about fear. One of her sons died several years ago and then when she had another son in Iraq, fear would come upon her. She pointed me to the Bible and a chapter in II Chronicles 20. Karen even paraphrased what she heard God saying to her personally through these verses and suggested I do likewise. It's good to be reminded of who God is and that He's in control. And I'm not to fear but instead to remember what He's done in the past. I am so thankful for such wonderful and timely wisdom from a godly friend!
  • Friends can be such a joy; old and new. I had the opportunity to attend a reunion of high school friends in 2008. It wasn't any special year like a 20 year or dare I say 40 year reunion (at least not yet). But it was fun to reconnect with people I hadn't seen in so many years. I found that I reverted back to being that sometimes awkward 18 year old even though the exterior doesn't quite look that same way. We had such fun remembering where we came from; Lindenhurst, New York ... a village on Long Island.
  • Renewal and refreshment from attending Women of Faith Conference: I am so thankful that Helen purchased my ticket to this conference. It was such a fun time, a learning time and a time to get away from everyday life. Listening to speakers like Luci Swindoll, Shelia Walsh, and Patsy Clairmont. Hearing the music of Sandy Patti, Mandisa and rocking out with Nicole C. Mullen. How great is that?

So, although my thankful list for 2008 is no way complete, this is a beginning. As 2009 is now upon us, will you take a moment to reflect on what you can be thankful for this past year?

You can read other thankful Thursday posts at Grace Alone.

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