A new year started just a few short hours ago, I was in bed feeling blue. So much has happened this past year and honestly I haven’t wanted to nor have I allowed myself to really deal with the ongoings of this past year, I've kept busy. New year…new beginnings, a chance to start over, if we choose to do so. The thing is, if we live one day at a time, and as I read yesterday in a daily devotional, each and every day can be a new year…because we should be living one day at a time. God only gives us each day and it is up to us how we choose to live it!
I have had the great fortune of gleaning insight from a friend working the 12 step program of AA. And in the third step, there is a prayer that goes: "God, I offer myself to Thee, to build with me and do with me Thy wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, so that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties so that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy power, Thy love and Thy way of life. May I do Thy will always.
This prayer is so chocked full of positives and I have often said to this friend, that it is a shame that this 12 step program is kept more or less a secret, because it has such a insightful impact on every life.
This year, THIS day…I need to offer myself to God and let Him direct me along the path of life. Every detour taken, is one of my desire to lead. In Matthew, Jesus states that we are to come to Him, all that are weary and in need of rest. I can’t speak of anyone else, but I need that rest. My burdens this past year certainly showed me MY need to follow and trust in God, because self-sufficiency didn’t nor couldn’t carry me.
Jesus states that we need Him to release us from our burdens, "relieve me of the bondage of self!" I equate this to mean that as a team player, I can’t carry the team alone. This is so evident in so many marriages where one person in the marriage believes that their needs are more important than someone else’s (in this case their spouse). Hindsight is such a great teacher. Losing Bruce and now being "in charge" of my own life is a scary proposition. I no longer can point a finger of blame if "MY" life isn’t working the way I think it should. I need to then remember that I am part of a larger team, God’s team. I realized that Bruce’s promotion to the heavenly team means that I might be sitting the bench, but like a journeyman learning the ropes, I still have some apprenticing to do until such a time as God calls me to "pro" status. My focus on self, keeps me in bondage. In asking God to relieve me of this bondage, my life’s problems and how He allows me to deal with them, hopefully will point others to the victorious way God wants me to live.
Is it a happy new year? Joy comes from God, He is the Light and if I choose to continue to dwell in a darkened state, it is only because I choose not to look up! His promise of taking on His yoke is one of rest which is peace. Peace and trouble can’t co-exist. What do you choose?
Looking up and Happy New Year!
Barb
I have had the great fortune of gleaning insight from a friend working the 12 step program of AA. And in the third step, there is a prayer that goes: "God, I offer myself to Thee, to build with me and do with me Thy wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, so that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties so that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy power, Thy love and Thy way of life. May I do Thy will always.
This prayer is so chocked full of positives and I have often said to this friend, that it is a shame that this 12 step program is kept more or less a secret, because it has such a insightful impact on every life.
This year, THIS day…I need to offer myself to God and let Him direct me along the path of life. Every detour taken, is one of my desire to lead. In Matthew, Jesus states that we are to come to Him, all that are weary and in need of rest. I can’t speak of anyone else, but I need that rest. My burdens this past year certainly showed me MY need to follow and trust in God, because self-sufficiency didn’t nor couldn’t carry me.
Jesus states that we need Him to release us from our burdens, "relieve me of the bondage of self!" I equate this to mean that as a team player, I can’t carry the team alone. This is so evident in so many marriages where one person in the marriage believes that their needs are more important than someone else’s (in this case their spouse). Hindsight is such a great teacher. Losing Bruce and now being "in charge" of my own life is a scary proposition. I no longer can point a finger of blame if "MY" life isn’t working the way I think it should. I need to then remember that I am part of a larger team, God’s team. I realized that Bruce’s promotion to the heavenly team means that I might be sitting the bench, but like a journeyman learning the ropes, I still have some apprenticing to do until such a time as God calls me to "pro" status. My focus on self, keeps me in bondage. In asking God to relieve me of this bondage, my life’s problems and how He allows me to deal with them, hopefully will point others to the victorious way God wants me to live.
Is it a happy new year? Joy comes from God, He is the Light and if I choose to continue to dwell in a darkened state, it is only because I choose not to look up! His promise of taking on His yoke is one of rest which is peace. Peace and trouble can’t co-exist. What do you choose?
Looking up and Happy New Year!
Barb
Happy New Year my friend,very well said.we wouldn't have a testimony if we didn't go through a test. I Love You!!!!
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