Day by Day

Hello out there. :)

Hopefully you've all survived your first week of the year 2013.  Is it just me or is there a hopeful ring to that? A new year is always full of such hope.  We see commercials about losing weight, getting organized, paying off debt, etc.  It's a new year!  It's a new you!

Let's be honest.

From the second the ball dropped on New Year's Eve to the minute you woke up on New Year's Day, nothing really changed at all.  Same you.  Different calendar.  But I'm not here to depress you and tell you that you can't change because that would be wrong and that would be cruel.  No, rather I'd like to give you hope.  Not the kind that a new year provides or a diet will satisfy or a planner will give.  Rather a hope that lasts and cannot be vanquished by darkness or the hardships another year may bring.

I'll admit, I give into the same false hopes every new year like any other average human would.  This Christmas break I thought and planned until my brain turned into scrambled eggs and eventually I just gave up and became overwhelmed.  We all want to change.  And, believe me when I tell you, the list was endless for me.  Ways I could be better.  Ways I could be prettier.  Ways I could be kinder, smarter, skinnier, more talented.

HUSH.

Said that voice that I always hear but rarely listen to.

I AM YOUR GOD. I AM IN CHARGE OF YOUR LIFE. I DECIDE HOW AND WHEN TO SHAPE AND MOLD YOU TO MY PERFECT WILL AND PLAN.

Oh.

My heart said as I realized that change will not and cannot happen overnight.  God holds my heart and He is ever so gently and patiently guiding me to where and who He wants me to be.

So this week take sometime to think about what God is saying, not what the ever-changing mutters of your heart are trying to convince you.  I always used to think there would be a magical moment in my life when I saw everything so clearly and completely turned around and then everything would just be so perfect from then on.  That is not the case.

Day by day, God is changing me.  I feel it.  I hear it.  I see it.  He is teaching me to bend to His will and not my own.  He knows me more than I know myself.  Every step I take is closer to Him.  And that is our HOPE.  That is our JOY.  I am young and I am probably naive in many ways, but I know this:

Nothing will ever satisfy you unless it comes from Him.  Nothing will ever bring you peace or hope or joy unless it comes from Him.  You can try to change on your own.  You can lose those five more pounds, organize your house, buy that new phone, wear that new makeup, rock that pretty dress, run that extra mile, get that gold medal, ace that exam.  Doesn't matter.

It is Him who gives us HOPE.  And it is Him who changes us.

When I started this blog, I said I was making a resolution to WRITE more, READ more, PRAY more, and LIVE more.  In the weeks to come, I will be letting you know how this progress is going and I hope this week to blog about my "One Word" (check out graceland) so stick around!   And also don't forget to read my brother's blog (Sitting Down to Bleed) because he is a constant source of inspiration.

This week remember:

"What does not satisfy when we find it, was not the thing we were desiring." ~C.S. Lewis

"My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." ~John 14:27

DECIDE WHAT TO BE AND GO BE IT.  ~The Avett Brothers

My inspiration: Hope (Hebrews 10:19-39)

...Love, Anna...