seventy-five percent of new years resolutions set are broken by valentines day. this may be why i typically don't set new years resolutions. improving myself is something i am always striving for anyway and i try not to jump into things just because. what i want is to change my lifestyle not just to change a habit. you may recall a post last year at this time seen here in which christe and i set an 18 month goal to be debt free (not including our house). the goal was not just a one year habit change but the first step in a life change concerning how we handle money.
because of the life-change aspect our resolution seemed different and i now know why. i heard a craig groechel sermon at church this week on new year resolutions that are good things verses God things. conclusion, we need God for a life-change.
being debt free allows us the flexibility to follow Gods calling on our lives. about six months ago, we started seriously talking about adopting, which became clear we could only afford if we were absent of our car loan (the last of our loans). with a little unexpected help from my parents and starbucks stock prices we were able to make our last payment on the car this month, completing out 18 month goal six months early. this freedom has allowed us to move on with our calling to adopt.
i believe our 2010 new years resolution was a God-thing as opposed to just a good thing. there is no way with out God we would have been able to finish paying off a student loan and two-car loans in 12 months. what are the things in your life that are not just good but would require God to change?
3 comments:
Congrats! We were there recently also and then because our situation we sought God's direction with selling our house. He worked it out in amazing ways (in this market) and we closed last month! Our primary desire was to be "free," as you said, to move where He sends. A friend once told me that the word "rapture" means to pull violently or yank, and therefore, we better not grow very deep roots in this world!
Amen.
Dave,
Loved the post, it is very encouraging to see how God has worked in the LePeau house. Loved reading your blog and look forward to reading more.
Wayne
http://mybrokenhip.wordpress.com/
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