Happy New Year!

So funny that it’s been almost a year since my last post.  I am thankful for the recurring mantra I have in my mind, “It’s about the progress… not perfection.”

I am going to keep this post positive even though I am currently surrounded with an almost empty box of tissues and wads of Kleenex surrounding me .  I’ve been keeping Kleenex in business these days as this is our third box! 

I wanted to start today’s post with my SOAP.  This year, our church is reading through the New Testament and I am excited to be part of it.  Today we are on Day 3 and the reading for today is Matthew 5:1-42.

S – Scripture  - Matthew 5:16

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

O – Observation – Right after Jesus called his first disciples, he went out throughout Galilee and began preaching the good news and healing diseases and sickness.  This brought a lot of crowds and began teaching on the mountainside. This scripture stood out to me because as His disciple, we are asked to show our good deeds not for our own glory but His. I love that people are blessed by our actions and will result in praise to our Heavenly Father.

A – Application -  I am feeling like I really need to step it up on my deeds.  The crazy thing is that I never feel like it is enough.  It can be the little things, like being an encourager and motivator for our boys, my sweetie, and family (my friends are my family too!).  I’ve noticed that I never feel like I have time for everything and that is because I’ve always let everything schedule me rather than me schedule things.  I know that if I put God first everything will fall into place.  That is what I truly need to work on.  I know God has put people around me for a reason and I feel truly blessed that there is a purpose behind that. I hope I can be a blessing to them so that God can be honored in it!

P – Prayer  Lord, thank you so much for showing me today that my actions speak loud.  Let me be cognizant of my actions so that what I do is