Who do you want to be?

As a new year starts we often look back on the year passed and make goals for the year ahead. Health, weight loss, and finance tend to be among our top priorities. But we as Christians should have a different goal that is above all others. I am challenging you (and most certainly me): to make Jesus your most important goal of 2016 and each year beyond.

Over the course of 2015 I became unsatisfied with where I was in my Christian walk. Going to church every Sunday and being in the nursery wasn’t filling my spiritual cup. Yes, I had great chats with the other moms, but we rarely talked about Jesus or how our spiritual walk was going.

“My heart and soul longed for more of Jesus and yet I was doing nothing about it.”

My heart and soul longed for more of Jesus and yet I was doing nothing about it. “I don’t have time,” was my biggest excuse. I am a stay at home mom with two little kids, I cook from scratch, run a small business, and I never have enough sleep…yet Jesus kept tugging on my heart.

Eventually my love for Jesus and my desire to know him more told the rest of me it was sick of excuses, its time to start growing. So I started where most people would, I opened my bible. That lasted no more than three days. My kids, my phone, and my mountain of dishes too easily distracted me. In the evenings I would rush through my chapter just so I could relax on the couch and watch TV.

“I prayed that my desire would be to put Him first,
above all.”

I didn’t want to be lazy and distracted from Jesus so I started to pray. I prayed that my desire would be to put Him first, above all. Slowly I got back to reading my bible. I would put away my phone and take notes about my chapter to help me stay focused. I started to look forward to my daily reading and would ask God to speak to me each time I opened up a new passage. I also started to have a desire to share God’s goodness in my life with my other Christian mom friends, to be encouraging and to challenge them in their own growth with Jesus.

So Here I am to ask you: Who do you want to be this year? Someone who puts Jesus aside? Or someone who wants to be growing? Do you want to be stagnant? Or do you want to be more of the Spirit-filled person God has made you to be?

How to begin? Start off by asking yourself what you are putting in the way of your growth in Jesus. Talk to God. Ask that your desires would be His desires for your life. Start slowly and open up your heart to His word. Take time to listen. Take time to worship. Take time to pray. Your life might be busy, but God is always worth it.

~Emily