Monday, January 5, 2009

Looking into the New Year

Happy New Year! Five days into the New Year and I'm just logging in to tend to my blog. It's been a hectic few weeks, to say the least. Hectic? A better word to use would be... stressful! Yes, that's right. It has been a stressful past few weeks.

Over the holidays, I encountered several stressful situations where I've had to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help me "live beyond myself" --- that is to display the fruit of the Spirit in my words and in my actions.

I had to go back to my Bible study workbook, Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself, to review the main points... love never fails, joy cometh, peace rules, patience waits, kindness tenders, goodness does, faith fights, gentleness bows, self-control stops.

Through it all, I realized one thing: it is when I can not do it myself... when I have to ask God to help me with my words and with my actions... that the fruit of the Spirit is actually being manifested and God is fully at work within me. It is definitely in those situations when I become fully aware of my humanity!

One good thing is that as I was reviewing the character traits that the Bible calls the fruit of the Spirit and as I reflected upon this New Year, I realized that a good goal for me this year would be to allow God to work more in me so that my life can display more and more of the character traits that make up the fruit of the Spirit --- a life lived beyond myself, one moment at a time!

"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!"
---Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)

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