2010 - A Year of Growth

Some things will simply transpire in 2010. We will have pastored CUPC for 19 years in March. I will turn 47 in June. Kent will turn 49 in June. Calah and Trent will be married 2 years in June. Kent and I will be married 28 years in July. Redonia will turn 24 in August. Trent will turn 23 in September.

Other things don't transpire so naturally. These are the things that I must diligently work towards. Many things I will endeavor to see come to pass are spiritual while others are simply physical. I am a firm believer in establishing both physical and spiritual goals. While these goals are often separate in a real sense they are quite connected. I don't believe our spiritual person is ever separated from the person we really are.

This year I plan to spend much time on myself. Before judging me harshly allow me to say I can never be to God or others anything I am not to myself. I want to begin this year being true to myself. I want to see the person I really am and not the person I want others to perceive me as or the person I wish I were. What a task!

Next I want to spend time and energy investing in others. While I certainly do not have all the answers I do believe everyone has something to share with others. Hence, the more time I spend on myself the more I should be able to share with others.

This year I intend to spend more time in prayer for my children. I intend to see a break through in each of their lives. I'm blessed with wonderful children but I anticipate seeing them become even greater persons. Last night as I settled into my bed this 'motherly feeling' griped me. I told Kent that I had a burden for my children. The past two days I have worked on some ways that I can help each of them. I hope in the next few days to have a prayer meeting in our home with our children. Will it be the first? Absolutely not. However, this year I hope to have more family prayer meetings. I hope I can lead others in doing the same. It doesnt' matter that my children are grown I still believe a family who prays together stays together.

The past few weeks I have had a few minor health issues. I know these situations are a result of my body being tired and stressed. This year I plan to work on many plans to overcome a tired and stressed body. Before I receive comments that I do too much let me clearly say in 2010 I don't plan to back off of anything. In fact I plan to do more. I just intend to be more organized than ever before. I am a lister and a planner but I plan to work smarter.

Becoming debt free is a goal we have established. The economy isn't the greatest and when your income is tied directly to the livlihood of others I believe it's wise to work on outgo. Kent and I have begun working on this in ourselves and in our church. We endeavor to be good and wise stewards.

A church does not grows naturally rather it takes much planting, fertilizing, and working the ground and the crop. Likewise, I plan to work for continued revival.

This year Kent and I are committed to training in the local church. We want to get people positioned within the church where they are not overloaded with responsibility. I truly believe this is fundamental to growth within the various departments of the church. While many serve in various capacities in the church because they have much to offer it is our goal to get each person serving in places where they will truly offer much. This is a very delicate situation to handle within the framework of ministry. Again, this requires everyone being true to themselves. Some areas require much more work than others. Some positions make it easy to handle multiple positions while other positions require hours of work.

Growth must be the goal every event, department and person. Growth is not necessarily numbers. Personal growth and growth within a department doesn't mean multiplication but many times enlargement of ourselves. I look forward to 2010 being a year of great growth!