Faithful

Do you do new years resolutions, goals, affirmations or whatever other million names they are called? I try to set annual goals for myself every year. I hear all the criticism of New Years Resolutions and I do see that side of it. But for me I think it's healthy to set new goals from time to time. It's easy to live on autopilot and just coast through life. For me it's easy to forget personal growth in favor of focusing on ministry and children. Jose found a suggested outline of types of hobbies you should have and we used that as our jumping off point. I'll list them for you here.

• One to keep you in shape
• One to keep you creative
• One to make you money
• One to build your knowledge
• One to evolve your mindset

Granted the one to make you money is a hard one for us to do in a place where by law we cannot earn an income. I haven't really found a way around that one. But I've got the others figured out. 

To stay in shape I have committed to walking more. I have to take a minimum of 5000 steps a day. That may not happen today because apparently the flu has spread to Peru and I'm the first to show symptoms. (that I know of) 

To stay creative I am doing a few things. Writing, art with Zoe once a week, and our family instagram blog. @thelopezesinperu

To build knowledge I initially challenged myself to read 24 books this year. But upon calculating how many I read last year I at least hit that number. So I upped it to 36

To evolve my mindset we are doing scripture journaling as a family. I found some lists of 31 topical scriptures and we write them out then talk about them. It's a little different than just reading the bible alone. 

My word for the year this year is Faithful. I always find that my word takes me awhile to get to I almost never start the year with it. I'm being reminded that God is faithful and I need to be full of faith. The first 3 scriptures of the year in our bible time had the word Faithful in them. That was the trigger. But I regularly forget that God is faithful. I start to believe that I have to complete His promises for Him. So as I was going about my day after reading the bible the phrase "God is faithful" would ring in my ears. I've been battling some things in my heart and the reminder "God is faithful" helps to quiet the noise. So this year I am working on trusting in God and counting on His faithfulness. 

I would love to hear your goals or words for the year! leave them in the comment section.

Happy New Year!