My Year End Review & A Free Gift For You

It's the very last day of 2012 and I'm excited about what God might bring in 2013! Before I start celebrating the New Year, however, I like to reflect upon and review the current year. I call it my year end review process but you could call it a year end wrap up or reflection session or whatever you like.

I used to have a very long and complicated year end review process. It worked for me at the time but now I have a much simpler process that I thought I'd share in case it might help you. It's three easy steps. I come up with my Top 20 amazing blessings of the year, top 10 achievements of the year and top 5 areas I'd like to improve on for next year. I just brainstorm them into a Google document as I think of them towards the end of December and then today I will narrow them down to the designated number. During the brainstorming process I just type up everything I think of related to each category and don't worry about numbers - usually I end up with a lot more than the numbered categories. I also add to it when I think of it in between creating the document and actually selecting the final 20, 10 and 5 items.

Coming up with my blessings list is a lot easier since I started tracking answers to prayer. God is so amazing! In 2012 alone, He answered at least 11 pages of my prayers (and probably more, because I don't write down everything and don't hear back from everyone who asks me to pray for him or her)! God has brought loved ones to salvation, healed sick friends, provided safe travel, relieved depression and far more. 

If you're wondering why I have the numbers the way they are, it's just my own personal logic. For years I've done a top 10 accomplishments list, but, as a Christian, I think it's more important to focus on God's work than my own so I wanted to have at least double praise for His accomplishments than my own. And, while I certainly have more than 5 areas that need improvement, keeping it at half of my accomplishments helps me stay positive about the changes I want to make. It works for me. If you try it, please let me know how it works for you.

My free gift to you is a blank copy of my 2012 Year End Review Google Document (the full link is also below for your reference)

May God bless you, keep you and inspire you to greater love, joy and peace!

Links:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AiikM6A7Ok-NdEpvNTBKUGZ2WWNSeFJWVFZYWHlSUVE
www.biblegateway.com

Wishing You A Blessed Christmas

 “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:11-14 NIV

From my heart and home to yours I wish you a blessed Christmas season. May the joy and peace of our Lord fill your hearts and souls, dear friends! Jesus is truly the best gift of all time and truly knowing Him as your personal Lord and Savior will change your life.

Many of you are missing loved ones, suffering from personal hardships, reeling from recent violent and natural events and my heart aches for you all. Please know that God loves you and wants to be your rock in these storms. I'll be praying for you!

These cute and funny photos of our cats are from a year or two ago but they make me smile and I hope they bring a spot of joy to your heart.

The first photo (at the top of this post) is our old grouchy cat, Moose in her a-bit-too-small Santa suit. The next one is my little baby cat (feral born) with a Santa hat I stealthily placed on her head after she fell asleep and the last photo is another of Moose the Cat in her Santa glory. I wish I hadn't given away that outfit. I thought I'd find her a better fitting one. Maybe before next Christmas.

May the God of all love and peace be with you this Christmas season and always!

Crossroads & Your Suggestions Welcome

Photograph by richard_b

If you're wondering why I haven't posted in a while, it's mostly because I've come to a crossroad with blogging here. I've used up all the free photo space allowed so I need to decide whether to pay Google for additional storage, store photos somewhere else and link to the urls for the blog or take a leap and start my own webpage (or some alternative I haven't thought of yet - feel free to share your ideas!). I'm hesitant to spend money on the blog because it's not bringing in anything significant. At this point, it's more my gift to the world and something fun I can do from home, which brings me to the second reason for my silence.

In November I was gravely ill. I wanted to keep the focus of my November posts on gratitude so I don't think I mentioned that in my posts. I'm not feeling led to share the details of all my health challenges (it's one area of my life I do prefer to keep private) but suffice it to say I have a host of them and when one problem crops up it can quickly become a domino affect and lead to life threatening and/or potentially permanently disabling consequences.

By God's grace, I am healing and so very thankful for the measure of health I do experience. Our very life and breath are gifts from God. And that naturally brings me to the third reason for my relative silence. It's the Christmas season. Jesus is the absolute best gift we could ever receive. I've been using my bits of energy to prepare for and celebrate this precious season. Merry Christmas to you all (and for those that celebrate Chanukkah, Kwanza or other holidays - a happy holiday to you)!

Someone suggested that I turn my November thankfulness series into an eBook and I'm considering that. I will likely wait until the New Year to investigate further but I thank you for the idea! I love hearing from you all, whether you post here, on my personal or writer Facebook pages or email me at lovejoypeas@gmail.com.

So, if you have ideas or suggestions I'd love to hear them! I'm especially interested in free places to park photos, pointers on transitioning to a regular website, what you love most about my blog, what I could do to improve it or serve you all better and anything you think might help me with deciding my next steps on this writing path.

May the God of all peace and healing bless you, keep you and be with you dear reader!

New Beginnings: Day 30 of 30 days of Thanksgiving

Image source

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

This month seemed to just fly by and the entire year is drawing to a close soon. But it's not too late for a new beginning! A new month starts tomorrow but every single day, hour, minute, even second is a chance to begin anew. I am so thankful for new beginnings and second chances. In my life, my most important new beginning was becoming a born again Christian. Have you been born again through faith in Jesus Christ? If not, today's the day to become a new creature in Him!

That old phrase, "if your mind can conceive it,  you can achieve it" has a lot of truth to it. I wish you the joy of new beginnings. May God bless you and keep you!

Sources:
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/30962_377606652329197_177099747_n.jpg
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20cor%205:17&version=NKJV
http://peacewithgod.jesus.net/

Home: Day 29 of 30 days of Thanksgiving

Image source: http://www.nantsprimitives.com/shop/images/uploads/home_sign.JPG

"And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."        Joshua 24:15 (NKJV) 

Today I'm thankful for our home. It's nice to have a comfortable, warm and relatively safe place to live. I'm especially thankful to share my home with my dear husband and two cat friends. Please join me in prayer for those who don't have a home, who are in need of shelter and who are in harm's way. May God bless them and may He bless you, too!

Sources:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=josh%2024:15&version=NKJV
http://www.nantsprimitives.com/shop/signs/in-this-home-sign/prod_139.html

Disclaimer:
I have no material connection to any of the sources or products mentioned or pictured in this post. However, the owner of Nant's primatives is a family member.

Volunteers: Day 28 of 30 Days of Thanksgiving

Image source

Today I'm particularly thankful for our world's volunteers. Volunteers make a huge difference every day, saving lives, promoting literacy, providing for basic needs, mentoring and serving their communities in countless other ways. There are many critical programs and services that would not exist without volunteers. According to Volunteering In America, "Volunteers are resolute in their commitment to serving their neighbors and communities, with 62.8 million adults volunteering almost 8.1 billion hours in local and national organizations in 2010, service valued at almost $173 billion."

Have you every volunteered anywhere? If so, I thank you. If you haven't, today's a great time to start! Here's an easy volunteer activity. Write a Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza or other holiday card to a wounded warrior. Mail it to:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

May God bless you and multiply the fruits of your selfless labor of love.

Sources:
http://www.dcmilitaryfamlife.com/profiles/blogs/sending-gifts-cards-to-wounded-warriors-and-deployed-military
http://www.snopes.com/politics/christmas/soldiercards.asp 

Note: Post updated on 11/29/12 with current address for mailing cards to service members.

Hugs & Affection: Day 27 of 30 Days of Thanksgiving

Image by phaewilk

"Greet one another with a kiss of love.

Peace be to you all who are in Christ."

1 Peter 5:14 (NASB)

Today I'm especially thankful for the abundance of affection in my life and visible around me. I'd been debating between three different topics for today's post. Now that the month is drawing to a close it's getting harder to decide. I could have gone with a list but I wanted this month's blog post series to be a spontaneous exercise in joyful thanksgiving.

Here's what decided it for today. As my husband and I were leaving whole foods this young dad spontaneously gave his toddler son a huge hug and kiss. The little boy received it with great joy and it was clear that this was an interaction that happened frequently as his chubby little arms wrapped even tighter around his dad's neck and his happy giggles were flowing freely. I always want to take photos of such wonderful moments but am hesitant to 1) interrupt said moment and 2) ask strangers to take pictures of their kids. If you're a photographer how do you handle this? Anyway, even though I didn't get a photo it warmed my heart and made me think about how blessed I am in the affection department.

I'm so thankful to be married to Ben and that he gives me ample hugs and affection. When I get to see my family, I know we'll exchange lots of hugs and even just the knowledge of that is comforting, even if it's a decade or more between seeing certain people. My PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) friends tend to be great huggers and I know that when I attend I'll be able to cheer others with hugs and enjoy being hugged as well. I hope that your life is filled with hugs, love and affection! If that's not the case I encourage you to find someone who is lonely and open to hugs and give them the blessing of your affection. May God encourage and bless every lonely person and may He bless you and those you love too!