As the new year arrives we are doing an account of our past year. Where can we improve, what areas of our lives do we want to see changed? We talked about it today.

Areas needed – organization/effective use of our time, i.e. scheduling,

Areas wanting to improve – evangelism and fellowship. wanting to share the gospel and witness God’s work in our lives and in people’s lives.

Realizing that we lack faith in many areas of life – As we were thinking of areas of change, we realize that our hearts must be changed in order to do the things that we wanted to do.

As we learned this past year through How People Change… all situations, all failures, all successes is the HEAT in this life that God will use for our sanctificatino. Our response shows us where our trust and our faith is. In looking back and recognizing that there were a lot of THORNS and sinful responses, we can see that we place our trust in ourself, our ability, our selfish ambitions, our wisdom, etc. The thorns provide a gauge into our heart to show where we have placed our trust.

In this coming year it is my prayer that we see the CROSS as the first place to go in response to any and every situation. Recognizing the sovereignty of God, God’s goodness to us, God’s redemption of us, God’s provision for us, God’s promises to bless us to be a blessing to others, God’s gift of justification and sanctification… in order that we may bear good FRUIT.

Lord use me, use our family, use our church in a mighty way this year.