2011.

One word to sum up 2010. Change.

In the midst of a ton of change in my life this last year and lots of adjusting, I'm thankful for this truth:

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever". Hebrews 13:8

I am thankful I can rest in His steadfastness in the midst of change.

With that.... Here are my New Years resolutions for 2011. I'm usually pretty bad at keeping them :(, but I was thinking that if I make them public maybe I will be more likely to keep some of them this year :). I'm also thankful that my successes and failures in this life are not based on new year's resolutions!

Brian and I both read Radical by David Platt this year. Seriously... you need to read it.At the end of the book, Platt challenges the reader to the "Radical Experiment". The Radical Experiment is to commit one year of your life to these 5 specific things:

1. To pray for the entire world
2. To read through the entire Word.
3. To sacrifice your money for a specific purpose.
4. To give your time in another context.
5. To commit your life to a multiplying community.

So these 5 things are going to be 5 of my New Year's resolutions. Some ways Brian and I are going to commit to this in 2011 are by reading/praying through Operation World every night; read through the Bible in a year with the one year Bible reading plan our church is starting (tomorrow:) called Crave; we are going to start saving money this year to adopt our orphan (possibly Ethiopia); we are going to try to go overseas for at least a week this year (possibly to China), and I am going to commit to volunteering at Siloam Family Health Center twice a month. Siloam is an amazing ministry in Nashville that gives health care to the uninsured. The majority of their patients are international with a large amount of people from Sudan, Somalia, and Iraq, and the best part of this place is that every refugee in Nashville has to go to Siloam for a health screening once they arrive in the USA (I think within ten days of their arrival). Siloam is the only government approved place in Nashville that can do these screenings. I am going to start volunteering at the refugee clinic twice a month. My heart was seriously overwhelmed when I heard about this opportunity and I am excited to get started.

On a less important note... I am also going to try to make at least one home cooked meal a week. I know that doesn't sound like much, but we are gone A LOT and our schedule has been pretty busy, which makes dinner at home difficult at times. Brian and I are also resolving to be better at keeping our budget. Brian is good at it, but me on the other hand.... not so good. I'm hoping the radical experiment also helps with my spending habits :). With that resolution, I am also going to try to be better at couponing. I think I have somewhat learned the technique.... it just makes me really tired to think about actually doing it, but it's definitely worth a try!

With that.... I know that I might not be faithful in keeping all of these, but I am thankful that as I look back at 2010 I see God's faithfulness even when my faith was small and I wasn't always faithful to Him, and I know that I will be able to say the same thing about God's faithfulness at the end of 2011 and every year after that.
Happy New Year friends!