MARY, DID YOU KNOW

Mary, did you know that your baby boy would some day walk on water?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

Oh Mary did you know

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the Lamb

Mary, did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I AM.

Oh Mary did you know


Merry Christmas to everyone

Peace...on earth


lyrics by Mark Lowry

2012 RETROSPECTIVE

This is the time of year when everyone does it - looks back on where they have been over the past year so they can prepare for the upcoming one.  I am no different.

The vernacular definition of the word "insanity" is to keep doing the same thing over but expecting different results.  What do you plan to do differently in the year 2013 to force a different outcome?  Or are you totally pleased with your 2012 outcome and wouldn't change a thing?

Here are a few things to consider:

• If you are still working, do you like your job? 
•  Is it satisfying or a spirit killer? 
• Are you making the most of your talents and pursuing your passion? 
• If you were forced to retire today would you have been content with your career? 
•  Would you have been fulfilled or would you have wished that you had made a career change?

It is never too late to make a positive change.  Yes, even at this point in your life.  Have you ever read the book "What Color is Your Parachute"?  The book helps you to identify your passion and strengths and helps identify what career choices are best suited to your personality.  Or you can go on-line and take some personality assessment tests.  Or make an appointment with the career counselor at your Alma mater.  Once you decide what it is you would like to do, then determine exactly what you need to do in order to made a successful career change.  Sometimes our volunteer work will provide us the experience needed and it certainly can provide networking contacts to which we may not otherwise be exposed.  I love reading.  An extension of my love for reading has led me to volunteer as a reading tutor to adults.  One of my goals for 2013 is to become a remedial reading teacher.  I am putting this goal out there publicly so that I will feel the pressure of having told everyone my goal and hopefully some of you will hold my feet to the fire so that I stay focused and pull this off - it's about accountability for your goals.

Going into 2013, are there relationships you need to scrap?  Do you have friends and/or family who tear you down or beat you up with their words?  People will only treat you the way you let them.  If you don't lay the groundwork for how you want to be treated, when will you?  Do you want to take that negativity into 2013?

Are you pleased with your financial situation?

• Have you saved enough? 
• Do you have too much debt? 
• How much stuff do you really need? 
• Do you need to cut back on some spending and get more bills paid off? 
• Do you have any short term and/or long term financial goals you should be working on? 

Another goal of mine for 2013 is to take a Disney Cruise next Christmas.  That is going to take some planning on my part.  It will also mean cutting back on something else and some major saving.

Are you satisfied with your health?  Did you schedule and keep all of your health maintenance appointments this year?  Our health is our own responsibility.  The older we get, the more aches and pains we wake up with.  Let's make sure those aches and pains are benign and not symptoms of something more significant.  The quality of our health determines the quality of our lives.

Now is the time to examine our lives and make any necessary changes.  It may sound cliche, but today really is the beginning of the rest of our lives.  Let's take that saying seriously and make a real commitment to getting on the right track if we don't feel that we are already on it.  Let's make something happen and not just let it happen.

There are a number of things I want to change.  I have already started.  The years seem to be flying by.  I want to look back at 2013 and be much more pleased with where I am then than where I am now.


Peace

PUSH

My original purpose for this blog is to be uplifting and motivating.  To talk about getting unstuck and learning how to move forward.  I know that I've been side tracked at times with "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" (September 24, 2012) or last week's blog about "A Real Lifetime Movie" or even Justin Bieber on November 20, 2012.   But, I really don't want to lose complete focus.

There is a biblical story about a woman, a widow, who had a need.  (Luke 18: 1 - 8)  She presented herself constantly before a judge, asking him to grant her justice.  As often as she went to the judge, he just as frequently denied her requests.  The parable does not say whether the widow became discouraged or frustrated, but the parable does say that she kept going back and kept going back until one day the judge granted her request.  The story does not note how many times the widow had to keep going back to the judge or over what time frame.  The parable does not even tell us what injustice had been committed against the widow.  What the parable does talk about is the widow's persistence.

By the time one reaches my age, I have come to realize that sometimes we have to be persistent in order to accomplish some things.  We have to get up and show up every day whether we like that job or not if we like keeping a roof over our heads or eating on a regular basis.  We had to go to class for four years or even more sometimes until we earned our degrees and/or accreditations.  We had to be diligent in going to exercise class until we lost the desired weight and sculptured our forearms until they looked like Michelle's (Michelle Obama's - not this Michele.)

I have my own personal story of persistence and perseverance.  I have prayed one specific prayer for the last four years.  I prayed it every day.  Sometimes when I became weary, I even asked friends to help me pray.  But, I kept praying and I kept praying and I kept praying and then just like the widow in the parable, my prayer was answered.  While waiting for my prayer to be answered my wait seemed endless.  But, now that my prayer has been answered, the time I waited no longer even matters.  It's just like going through a nine month pregnancy when the months seem to go on forever, but then the wait pales in contrast to the joy of delivering a healthy baby who has all ten fingers and all ten toes.

The moral of the story is to focus, persist and keep praying without ceasing.  The judge in the parable gave in because he was overcome by the widow's perseverance.

It is our responsibility to be persistent, to be stubborn in prayer.

P   - pray
U   - until
S   - something 
H  - happens!

Thank you GOD for answered prayers.


Peace

Michele