Time to Give Up…Again

I grew up in a Lutheran church (of course now I attend a non-denominational church), so Lent has always been something I have observed. I have always given up something that I love in regards to food for Lent…I guess I figure that if Jesus was able to give up His life for me then I can at least give up something for Him.  Anyway, this year for Lent I am giving up a few things, plus I have decided to add something that will hopefully become a habit and that I will continue to do even after Lent has ended.

Giving up

1. Ice Cream (I LOVE my ice cream, so this is always a very difficult one for me to give up, but I will do my best to abstain…although my sister’s birthday falls during Lent and she always has an ice cream cake, so it will be tough watching everyone enjoy that while I am stuck eating yogurt or a popsicle).

2. Unhealthy snack foods (I don’t eat a lot of junk food, but I do tend to munch on chips and I have decided that it is something I need to stop doing.  So instead, I will try to snack on veggies, fruit, or granola snacks…we will see how long I adhere to this…I tend to forget things!)

3.  Purchasing Hot Chocolate (most people would put coffee down, but I have never been able to drink coffee…I guess I never developed the taste for it.  I realize that I spend too much on hot chocolate or hot apple cider – every Sunday after church I go to Starbucks – and I could be saving that money or putting it towards the offering).

Adding

I always end each day with prayer and devotion, but I am not very good about starting my day off in God’s Word and so I am going to spend at least 30 minutes in the morning reading my Bible and praying.  I think it is important to start and end my day with God because it will help put me in the right frame of mind as I start each day and it will better prepare me for the challenges or difficulties I encounter.  I will also spend 30 minutes in prayer and reflection in the evening.  Hopefully this will become a habit for me and will be something I will do the rest of my life.

Anyway, I just thought I would post up a list of the things I intend to do away with.  This way there are others who can hold me accountable…LOL!

Re-evaluating Things

I was reading my prayer journal and found that many of the entries I wrote last year mirrored the things that I have written about recently.  I found this a little disheartening because I felt that maybe that meant I hadn’t made any progress in these areas, or that the progress I had made was very small.  The two themes that I kept seeing in the entries were trust and purpose.  Trust has never been something that came easily to me.  I have never had a reason to not trust people, but I think it is related to the fact that I do not like to be vulnerable and when you trust someone that is what you have to do.  I have been getting better in this area, but I still have a long way to go and it is only through constant prayer that I have been able to begin to change.  Loving God requires me to trust Him completely with my life and that is definitely not an easy thing to do, but I am finding that it gets easier and it actually makes life more enjoyable.  Following trust comes purpose.  Ever since I graduated high school, I have been concerned with what my purpose is in life and what God intends for me to do with the talents He gave me.  When I graduated, the questions I was asking God referred to what college I should attend and whether or not it was the right place for me at the time.  This led to me choosing to attend community college for 2 years instead of attending the UW as a freshman.  I wasn’t always sure that it was the right decision, but looking back I know that that was the place God wanted me to be at that point in my life.  Now, having graduated college, I am pretty much at the same spot I was when I graduated high school, but this time the questions I have pertain to what career I should pursue or whether I should wait to pursue my career and instead go on a short-term mission trip (which I would LOVE to do).  I have been praying about this a lot and have come to the realization that I need to stop focusing on the problem right in front of me (that of not having as clear a direction as I would like) and instead give up the control I think I have (because let’s face it, only God has any control in this world) and just live and let God.  By focusing my life on God the problem will eventually be resolved.  Maybe I am not exactly where I thought I would be at this point in my life, but I am exactly where God wants me to be and that is what is important. I am learning to trust God’s ways more and it is because of this that I know I have at least made some progress in my relationship with Him (although there is always a lot more progress to be made).

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

                – 2 Corinthians 4:18

This is such an amazing verse!!! Words can’t begin to say how much this verse has helped me.