Day 3: Class has been canceled but school is still in session.

Today is the third day of my journey to strengthen my relationship with Jesus Christ and start living my life the way I would live it if I only had one month to live. I don't know if I will continue to count the days as if this process is going to end at some point. My hope is that it will never end and it will become a way of life for me. The way that I have always wanted to live and have always felt called by God to live.

Yesterday I wanted to blog as soon as I woke up but this little thing called errands got in the way and I wasn't able to. I did however make progress on my journey by purchasing the book I wrote about in my last post, One Month to Live. I wanted to order it off of Amazon because it was listed used for only $8.00 and in the bookstore it retails for $19.99. But I also wanted to be sure and start reading the book yesterday. One of my faults is making great statements about things I am going to do and not ever actually doing them. My blog is probably proof that I don't want to do that anymore. I want to actually follow through and do the things I say I am going to do.

To solve this problem I resorted to my iPhone which as some of you may know it is one of the greatest inventions and it has an "app" for just about anything. Falling in the just about anything category is a Kindle for the iPhone. Just like the Kindle I can buy books from Amazon at a much lower cost than the bookstore and can read them on my phone. Which counts as a double bonus because I only paid $10.00 for the book and it will always be with me. After all, no one leaves their house without a cell phone these days.

Okay, so I accomplished something in making sure that I bought the book yesterday and I even went further and actually read the first chapter. I read it while I waited for my husband, Travis, to finish his workout at the gym. Yes, I waited for him to finish. We often go to the gym together which I am so thankful for because anything that makes me want to go to the gym more is a blessing. But, I usually don't work out quite as long as him. For me an hour or less is just enough and he can usually workout for at least an hour and a half!

So, back to the first chapter. The book is set up as kind of a challenge to those who decide to read it. The first chapter breaks down the ideals and structure of the book and ends with a "make it last for life" section. In this section there are a few challenges given and I decided that I would talk about those challenges through my blog. I may not write about them all but if you want to know what they are or if I'm doing them I encourage you to ask me!

Day 1: Make It Last for Life
1. Make a list of five things you'd change about your life if you knew you only had one month to live. Choose at least one to begin changing today, right now.

Well we all knew this was coming or at least I did. I wrote last time that I didn't know exactly what changes I wanted to make and that I would seek God's guidance in this area. I have been praying about many things in the past couple of days including what changes I need to make in my life. I started making a list of these things at the beginning of the year. My list was created with the intent of being a list of New Year's resolutions. Making a list of New Year's resolutions is not something I typically do. I feel like God has being laying this change on my heart for a while so I decided to use an edited form of that list. I will continue to seek God's guidance in this area and continue to edit this list as necessary. This list is in no way complete it is just a starting point.

1. Strengthen my relationship with God, my Savior.

I realize that saying this is easy and that doing it is what will actually be difficult. Here is my plan for doing it. First, I signed up for a Bible reading program on www.youversion.com. My plan is called Project 3:45+. This website has over 20 plans for reading the Bible and each user can choose what they like best. Here is a synopsis of my reading plan:

"Project 3:45+ is an extended version of the New Testament reading plan, Project 3:45. The “Plus” adds a Psalm or Proverb per day (including weekends) and selected readings from the Old Testament five days per week. The beauty of a Bible reading plan is that all the guesswork is removed and there is always a place to start and a sense of direction. For those that really want to add more to their devotional reading time Project 3:45+ offers great options." (www.youversion.com)

The website is really neat and hard to explain but each day I log in and read a portion of my reading plan and check of each section as I go. My plan is meant to be finished in a year and it shows me my progress through a percentage read tracker. I really like the website and encourage anyone to check it out!

I started my reading on Sunday and have completed each reading since then. Today one of my readings was Proverbs 3. It is a wonderful chapter of the Bible and a verse of encouragement that I took from it is, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6.

The second way that I will be strengthening my relationship with God is through prayer. I have made a promise to myself and now to all of you that I will pray for at least a few minutes everyday. In the future I would like to build my prayer time but I need a starting place. I will keep a prayer journal and would love to pray for any of you. Please let me know your needs and I will pray for you and them! The Lord encourages us to pray throughout the Bible and a verse that I will hold onto while I do this is simply, "pray continuously" 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Lastly, I will be attending and participating in Church each week at Experience Life. I volunteered in the children's department at Elife for a few weeks and would like to start volunteering again wherever they need someone. I will report back to you all on my experiences at Church and I invite all of you to come to Experience Life or any Church that you have been thinking about going to or that is in your area. Hebrews 10:25 explains the importance of meeting together with other believers saying, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

For the rest of these I will not elaborate on my exact plans for how I am going to actually do these things but I will write about the progress I have made when it seems appropriate.

2. Become a better wife and improve the health of my marriage with help from my husband.
3. Follow God's instructions for tithing and budgeting and move away from materialism.
4. Become a better and more reliable friend and family member.
5. Stop cussing. (I know that seems silly but it is something that I would like to change)

So, here I go! Pray for me!

Jesus, the best I know how, I commit my life to you. Amen.

By the way, the reason for the title is due to my only class of the day being canceled! :)