TGIF...seriously!

I am so thankful that today is Friday. For some reason this week has been very busy for me. I wanted to make time to blog each day this week but it just never worked out. The books I needed for class arrived late so I played catch trying to get everything read before my classes. I still didn't get everything read but I am going to catch up this weekend so that I can have more time to work on my personal goals next week.

Although I was busy I still worked on my goals I just wasn't able to write about it. I read my "assigned" Bible readings each day this week and I found inspiration, comfort, and encouragement in each days reading. I am on day 6 of my 365 day plan from youversion.com which puts me at completing 1.6% of the reading plan. I know that seems like a very small percentage but I am very results oriented so seeing that percentage lets me know I have accomplished something. (And I am proud of my accomplishment)

Some of the verses that inspired this week are:

Proverbs 4:24-25 "Put perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you." (I thought this went right along with my attempt to not curse and along with that reminds me that I also need to work on not gossiping)

John 4:13-14 "'Jesus answered her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Along with my week being busy it was also a little stressful. On Monday I found out that I didn't get the part time position I was hoping to get in order to help out with mine and Travis' expenses during my last semester of school. While this was a little disappointing I realize that it was not apart of God's plan for us. So I am continuing to pray about getting substitute jobs in order to help with our bills and the strength and discipline to not spend money on things like eating out and social activities.

Travis got paid on Wednesday so I paid our end of the month bills and tithed 10% of his check to Rekindling Ministries. Rekindling is a non-profit organization that our friend Shannon Kirkpatrick started a few years ago. The ministry does many things including hosting in depth Bible study courses for the community in Northern Virginia. Here is the website if you would like to learn more about it...http://www.rekindlingministries.org/. God put it on my heart to tithe to Rekindling last year for many reasons but the main one is because Shannon consistently updates us on the needs of Rekindling and in our opinion they outweigh the needs of any other tithing options we have. Last year we did not tithe to Rekindling faithfully but as I said in my last post this year I would like to budget the money God has blessed us with according to his instruction. So Travis and I are going to trust that God will provide for us and we will be tithing at least 10% of our income from now on.

I pay the bills in our household and report back to Travis what I do and where we are financially. Each time that I even consider tithing I hesitate because we live month to month and sometimes do not have the money we need to pay for everything. This area of trusting God seems to be the hardest for me because I worry that we will not have enough. Pray for me to know that God will provide and just like his word says that I will give my worries to him. Matthew 6: 34 says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

~God, I trust you to meet the needs of Travis and I. Thank you for your many blessings!~

I haven't been able to keep up with reading the One Month to Live book but I'm not going to stress about it. I am just going to read each day when I have the time to do it. The last day/chapter I read was Day 2. The Make it Last for Life section in this chapter asked:

1. If you were certain your life as you know it would end in a few weeks, what would be your biggest regret? Why?

The first thing that came to my mind when I read this question was, I would regret not sharing my faith with others more and being a terrible example of someone who believes. I know that this sounds like the "right answer" but it is honestly what I thought of when I read this question. And on top of missing the opportunity to witness to people I don't know my biggest regret would be not being a better witness/example to the people I know and love namely, my two brothers. I would regret this because I believe in eternal life in heaven with Jesus and I want everyone to be there and because I know the joy and peace of walking with God and also want everyone to feel these things. (I know this paragraph is kind of wordy, sorry. :) )

2. In what area of your life are you suffering from the Someday Syndrome? Make a decision today never again to use the phrase "someday, when things settle down." Realize that today is your someday.

I definitely feel like I am trying to live by this motto. Everyday I realize that this challenge is very difficult. I tend to be a very realistic person so my first thoughts when reading this were, Okay I'll realize that but the truth is that I will probably always say someday I'll do this or that...And honestly I think that's okay. But the one thing that I have decided can not longer be part of the Someday Syndrome is living my life as God would have me live it. That I will do now and I won't wait to do it when I'm older or when I'm a mother or when I retire.

Overall this week was great. I feel like I accomplished a lot and made progress in changing myself. Thanks for everyone out there that is cheering me along. I really appreciate the support!! Oh and by the way I emailed the church this morning about being a volunteer again. I will keep you updated on what happens.

Thank you God for a great week and for the time to rest during the weekend!