Sunday Sentiments

I have spent a lot of time this month planning ahead for the year to come. If you have read along here for any length of time, you know I’m more of a monthly-goal kind of girl than a yearly-resolution kind of girl. That hasn’t changed, but my 2024 is shaping up to be a year that involves a lot of speaking, which means much preparation will also be required. I am so excited about it, but I am aware I need to carve out time for it.

            Ryan and I also have made commitments to honor our health and our marriage and that means creating purposeful time to invest in those commitments as well!

            Planning is one of my favorite things, so these weeks of thinking, note-making, and preparing have brought me so much joy.

            But even last night, as I wrote in my journal about some of the decisions ahead, I told God I wanted to use my brain to make the plans to the best of my ability, but I also wanted to stay fully in step with Him. I don’t want to get so insistent on my own ideas that I can’t leave room for what He has for me.

            Proverbs 19:21 says “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it’s the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” I’ve seen it happen over and over in my own life – in our married life, too – and I know that won’t ever change!

            I am excited to know that God has plans for our 2024. I am excited to know that He plans to use us in ways we can’t imagine right now. I am excited to see how He takes the dreams and passions He’s been building in us over the last few years and makes something new and beautiful out of them. I am even excited about the parts I don’t yet fully know. It’s like waiting to unwrap a gift! I know it’s there, but I don’t know what’s inside.

            But while I wait, I want to prepare well. I want to move forward with what I do know and trust that the Lord will guide me to a new road when I need to find it.

            So on these last few days of 2023, I’m staying busy. I’m busy praying about what to study in 2024. I’m praying about messages to share. I’m praying about how to spend my free time. I’m praying about how to show love to Ryan. I’m praying about how to move ahead with the goals I’ve set and the goals we’ve set together.

            Isn’t it exciting to stand on the edge of something new?