I know, I know… I probably sound like a broken record by now… Every year, I say how EXCITED I am for the New Year– mainly because I get to start a new focus area with my main-man Jesus.
But it’s true. New God-Sized dreams just AMP. ME. UP. (Seriously. Somebody should check my pulse rate, even as I sit here and WRITE about them!)
Last week, you read about my God-Sized dreams for 2016 recap… How things went, what was accomplished (or not so much.) Today, I am sharing where Jesus might be taking me in 2017.
So let’s get down to it, shall we?
Dream #1: Allow God to tame my tongue.
Can I just say, “Yay/Yikes” for this dream? It is something I desperately need (and have been working on for a few years now) but really felt led to hone in on it for 2017. Each day, I want to take a few moments in my prayer closet to reflect on the previous day’s experience and ask myself these questions: Was I… Slow to anger? Slow to speak? Quick to listen? Quick to forgive? Quick to apologize? Void of harsh words?
God can do great things, but I know also that He is a God of grace. So as I reflect, I am not looking for perfection (because getting a “YES” on all of the above questions in any given day for me would be a miracle in itself.) Instead, I am seeking progress and deeper awareness. If I snap at my husband/daughter, did I apologize for it– and in a timely manner? Did I stop myself from saying something that I normally would have quipped off without a second thought?
Dream #2: Engage Various Spiritual Temperaments
(Minimum: 1 X per week)
On my recent bi-annual ministry sabbatical, I picked a “random” book off my shelf to take with me to read. It was “Sacred Pathways” by Gary Thomas (same great author who wrote “Sacred Marriage.”) Well, as it usually is with all things Jesus, there was NOTHING random about that choice. Clearly God-ordained for my time away. I devoured the entire book, all 272 pages of it, in less than 36 hours.
In all of the big life transitions this year, (moving across the country, pregnancy, transitioning from being a shepherd to a sheep) my walk with the Lord has been a little… Disconnected. Kind of dry. I was still doing my daily QT with the devotional “My Utmost for His Highest,” but that is a DEEP read, so even on my best days I still was a little foggy on what it was trying to say. (Maybe I will understand it more by the time I turn 80?) After reading Sacred Pathways, I realized that I was tapping into pretty much only ONE (out of nine possible) spiritual temperaments. So after taking the spiritual temperament assessments, I took my strong top 5 and have started intentionally engaging with them at least weekly (almost daily.) We are only a few days into 2017, and the heart-game for me has already changed! (More on this transformation on a future post…)
Dream #3: Memorize 200 Scriptures
Last year was the first year I really tried to memorize Scripture– and it was an awesome (challenging) pursuit. This year, I want to tackle 200 more verses from God’s word, including the entire book of Philippians, Romans 12, Ephesians 6, and any others God puts on my heart.
Dream #4: Complete a “Factor of 7” act of kindness
(Minimum: 1 X per month)
Not a ton of explanation needed here… I just want to get back to being intentionally kind in the name of Jesus one time per month. (You can read all about 7 Days Time “Factor of 7” movements by clicking here. )
Dream #5: Give Intentional/Tangible Encouragement
( 1 X per week X 3 people)
In 2015, I completed an “encouragement” dream by sending 52 different people a piece of snail-mail encouragement (breaks down to one person per week.) Funny thing is, it probably encouraged ME more than anyone who received something in the mail. So this year, I wanted to do bring it back, with a twist… For 52 weeks this year, I will be sending a card/letter/some type of encouragement to three different people. (I blurred out their initials on here, just to keep the surprise going as long as I could.) It’s already been so fun and encouraging for MY heart!
Dream #6: Pass the Army PT Test
(And actually record my results this time)
Every year, God gives me some sort of physical dream to work on. As of this writing, this dream is on the “later this year” part of my priority, mainly because the #StateOfMyUterus is very much occupied (we are talking like almost 36 weeks pregnant occupied.) So right now, my basic physical achievements are walking upstairs and putting on pants each day. (I do still try to walk on the treadmill, but it’s quite a task sometimes.) Later this year, after this new Tiny Human vacates said uterus and I have a bit of time to heal, I would like to get back to working out, specifically focusing on short (2 mile) run, push-ups and sit-ups. (No marathon running for me this year– and I am NOT sad about it.)
Dream #7: Complete Alphabet Book Reading Challenge
No, I am not brushing up on my ABC’s this year… But I do want to stay in a reading groove. In 2015, I did the 52-book challenge, with guidelines to read books from different categories, genres etc. While it certainly expanded my “reading palette,” some of the books were less than edifying– plus, the average of needing to read one book a week (especially BIG books over 500 pages) were hard to knock out. So this year, I am on a mission to read 26 books– Books of my choice, but that start with different letters of the alphabet.
Dear blog followers: Do you have God-sized dreams for 2017? I would love to hear all about them. Leave a comment below, or let me know which of the dreams listed above stuck out to you most.
For now, I am on a mission to do some off-line dreaming… And I don’t just mean via my preggo power nap.
Dreaming with Jesus,
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
~Psalm 37:4
