Faithful Fridays are a new addition to the blog this year!  I thought it might be great once a week to post on how I am trying to remain faithful to God.  This post keeps me accountable for my daily time with God.  It also gives me a chance at least once a week to focus on the blessings God has bestowed upon our family.  Some weeks that is much harder than others!!

So how have my faith based goals gone the first 11 days in the new year??

Goal 1: was to memorize 24 verses of scripture.  I am still working on my 1st verse of the year but will be adding number 2 next week!  I do have the basics of the verse hidden in my heart and will continue to work on it.  I have found myself turning to my index card binder often over the past 11 days to remind myself of the verse and to go before the Lord in prayer.  

Goal 2: was to spend more time in prayer and allow God to guide me.  I feel that I haven't spent nearly as much time in prayer  as I would have liked.  I need to be more dedicated and purposeful with my prayer time.  I catch myself praying throughout the day about little things but I feel that I also need to set aside some quiet time morning, noon, and night to do some focused prayer time.  As far as letting God guide me...well there are many times when I am not sure if I am doing my will or God's.  I try to make sure that what I am doing is pleasing to the Lord and that I am looking to him in all aspects of life not just in the big stuff.  I want to make sure that I am living my life for him all the time not just when it's easy.  I think my biggest struggle here is deals with finances.  It's hard to give up control to God and know that he will provide for our needs.  

Goal 3: was to read through the entire Bible in a year.  This one has been a little difficult as it requires you to set aside time each day to read between 4-5 chapters of the Bible.  I have gotten behind a couple of times but I am happy to say that currently I am caught up and have completely read the book of Ezra!  1 book down and 65 to go!  The weekends seem to be the hardest for me as we don't have a structured day on the weekends.  

In addition to these goals I also spend other times with the Lord.  I was blessed this week to get together with my WIC group on Wednesday night for a good girls night.  We enjoy a meal together, pray together, and study God's word.  We are working through Beth Moore's "David, Seeking a Heart Like His."  I have really enjoyed this study.  God has used this study to guide me in many ways!  I also really enjoy just spending time with the ladies in my group.  The majority of us are all in the same stage in life...we are 30ish, married, with kids and have full time jobs.  We do have ladies in our group who don't fit that description and I think that it's great!  Those ladies offer us a different insight into how God's word works in their life.  Many times we are so caught up in ours we forget that the same scripture may work differently in one life than the other...but the idea is the same...God is working in their life!  

Next week my Good Morning Girls group starts their study in Luke!  I am very excited for this study.  It's an 8 week study.  I am leading a Facebook group through the study.  I have tried this before and it worked out ok but I lost motivation because other's in the group weren't interacting.  I pray that the new group helps to keep up my motivation!  

I also try to work a little each day on vacation Bible school (VBS).  I do this so that I don't feel overwhelmed later in the year, which this year is even more important as we are expecting baby #2 in March.  I am happy to say we have dates set, starting to line up volunteers, and working on set design already!

So right now my typical day includes multiple small burst of time with the Lord.  I am thankful for the time I can spend with him alone but I also enjoy the time I spend with him and my family and friends.  Each type of interaction with the Lord blesses us greatly.  

Oh and by the way...I have to say HAPPY NATIONAL MILK DAY

So take a moment and let me know how are your faith based new year's goal going?  

Caci