It's a Brand New Day... and Year...

I woke up with the KJ-52 song "Brand New Day" in my head this morning. Not usually a KJ fan, but I think it's a happy song, and I just find myself really excited whenever I hear it start to play on the radio. And anyway, I thought it was appropriate, although certainly unplanned, that that was the song in my head on the morning of January 1st.

Happy 2013! I wonder how many times I'm going to catch myself writing 2012 or '12 on checks, letters, lists, and the like. I'd say it's in the ballpark of about a zillion.

Ok, so if you're wondering if I met the four goals I had set a few months ago, the answer is... sort of. Hey, it's better than no. :-)

Recap.

• Memorize a Chapter of the Bible: YES! Psalm 138. :-) Now, I've decided I want to memorize 1 chapter a month. 12 chapters this year! I think I can do it!

• Finish Writing My Book: YES! It will take a lot of tweaking, but I feel good with where it is. It's a short book - probably falling under the novella category. But I wanted it to be short, sweet, and to-the-point, while hopefully still interesting.

• Sew a Skirt: NO. :-( I have done little bitty sewing projects here and there with a needle & thread, but have not used my sewing machine yet. To be honest, it intimidates me. But I'm determined to get over that and start sewing!

• Make a concentrated effort to give verbal encouragement to my husband: YES! I guess I should ask him if I really did a good job at this. But I found myself being much more deliberate about communicating with him and being more verbal than what comes naturally to me. He said he did notice I'm opening up more and am verbally making him feel affirmed, so I think that counts. :-) I don't want to stop here though. I want to keep going in showing him how much I love and appreciate him.

There you have it. I haven't really set any New Year's resolutions for this year, but I have asked the Lord to help me grow and improve in some areas. And I will be making short-term goals. I work better with deadlines and can tend to be a teensy bit of a procrastinator, so if 2014 is my deadline for a lot of things, I would be in trouble. I look forward to all this year has in store for me & my husband, our church, our families, our close friends (P.S. My closest childhood friend just announced that she and her husband are going to have their first child! Woohoo!!!) But more than anything, I look forward to drawing closer to the Lord this year. May I give Him all the glory every day of this year, and every day of my life.