New Year...New Expectations->How About You?

Okay so we are approaching, in less than 12 hours, a new year and I don't know about you but I have new expectations for this year. Expectations that I fully intend to complete and use to better myself and my family. So although a lot of people are setting "New Year's Resolutions", I am calling my changes expectations, because to me an expectation is something I expect to change and its a lifestyle change not something I am doing for everyone else to see. I am making a "forever" change! So here is my list of new expectations for 2014:

• To be obedient to my Lord and follow what He has set forth for my life. He has promised me in Jeremiah 29:11 that He has good things planned for me "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." 
• To not just speak to my children what faith is, but to show them in every thing I do. Faith is something we portray by how we react in life to not only the good but the bad. In 2 Corinthians 5:7 God tells us just that, "For we walk by faith, not by sight."
• To laugh, cry, run, jump, cuddle, kiss, hug, hold hands, create, and learn with and from my children. They are such a true blessing and my one reason for being here according to my God is love Him and show them that as well. Deuteronomy 6:5 tells us why we were put here on the earth, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."
• To disciple to His people and spread the word of His love. In the bible Jesus tells us in John 13:35 that we should do this by loving His people, "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."
• Show more grace to my husband because of the grace God showed to this wretch when He sent His son to die on the cross for me. Marriage is a tough job and was never meant to be taken lightly. I have spent the last year fighting myself thinking "I" knew what was best, only to find out my best was not what the marriage needed. God tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 just what love is, "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
• Make some new friends through this blog, even if they are people I never see face to face. Be open to differences and be okay with that. You are God's child too and He taught me to love you regardless of those differences. So please feel free to contact me via my Contact page, I would love to connect via your blog or Facebook page or just email.
• Volunteer with my church anytime I can get. I LOVE my church and let me tell you, I NEVER thought I would find a place where I once again felt completely at home. I feel like I am wrapped up in the arms of God Himself each and every time I am around those people. My church is Team Church of Lancaster and if you are looking for a place of Grace and God's love please come visit us. You will never feel more at home.
• Cook more and create more. Try to learn how to bake more and not be as scared of the "exact" measurements needed in baking. I am one of those girls who doesn't need a recipe, my daddy even said it on Christmas morning as he stood in my kitchen and watched me make homemade biscuits. He said, "you are like my mama, she never really used a recipe, just eyeballed it." I had a connection to a grandmother I barely knew during my life and I know that one day I will see her again in His kingdom.
• Connect more with my mama and her parents. I have some of the most wonderful memories of my life locked with those 3 people. Those memories are so forever etched in my mind that my children know most of them, because I share constantly with them. We are never promised tomorrow, but I was blessed with such a loving family that I want to give back however I can even if it is just sitting, talking, and laughing with them.
• To pray more when I say I am going to. If somebody asks for prayer, stop right then and pray for them, no matter where I am and let them know it. Prayer shouldn't be something we just say but something we actively do. In the bible 1 Thessalonians 5:17 gives us that direct order, "Pray without ceasing."

How about you? What expectations do you have of yourself and life this year? They don't have to be aligned with my beliefs, remember I am going to love you anyway. I want to know how you want your year to go and expect that of yourself. Comment below with 1 expectation of yourself or family this year.