Every January I ask God to give me a scripture verse. These annual verses have taught me valuable life lessons.
"Fix your eyes on Jesus" is my favorite verse. That year I took my eyes off myself and my plans and other people and their plans for me. Instead, I fixed my eyes on Jesus, His Will, and His Sovereignty. It was life changing. I haven't looked back. I just keep looking UP!
"Practice hospitality" brought a chuckle. That was the year I was in a cast for three months and learned to receive hospitality more than to practice it. God taught me that He has a sense of humor and that hospitality has little to do with a clean and welcoming house and much to do with a clean and welcoming heart.
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" helped me through exhausting years of caring for little children. Don't grow weary, don't give up, I repeated on difficult days, trusting God for a great harvest. He delivered as He promised and I realized no matter how tiresome the day, this too will pass. Those babies grow up too fast to worry about being weary.
By far the most convicting verse was "Examine yourself." OUCH! I think I was afraid to ask God for another verse, so the following January and the one that followed that, and the one after that... I just kept examining myself. How often we examine everybody else, yet fail to examine ourselves. I'm still pulling the plank out of my eye and daily reminding myself that nowhere in the Bible does God say, examine your neighbor or worse, examine your husband.
This year, God gave me a new verse. I love it and I'll share it with you in a future post.
Have you asked God for a verse for 2011? I'd love to hear about it!
May 2011 be filled with Splashes of Serenity for each of us!
Elaine
