As the new year quickly approaches, I’ve been pondering on areas of my life I want to adjust in the coming year, and goals I would like to make. This past year has been a crazy one of change for our little family. From Kyle accepting a job offer in another city, to finding out we were pregnant, to making the decision to buy a house, to actually buying a house, to moving 8 hours away, from Kyle starting at his new office, to having a newborn… Well, it’s been change after change after change. All good things, but change nonetheless. And because of all of these changes, some of my goals for 2015 kind of got left by the wayside. Now, an actual post about my goals for the next year will be coming in a few weeks, but today I wanted to share one of them with you, and tell you how I’m aiming to achieve that goal.

I’m pretty sure most of us make this same goal, in some variation or another, year after year. I want to grow closer to my Savior. I want to study His Word daily. I want to pray daily. I want to really dig in deep and learn more about the scriptures. I want to strengthen my testimony of Him and serve others. For something so important, it’s something that is often the first thing we let go of when our lives get busy. It’s sad, but true. And so, we find ourselves looking back, wondering how we let it slip away, and vowing to do better.

As a mom of a little baby, I often find myself with down time. Well, not downtime, necessarily, but baby girl’s gotta eat, and there’s not much I can do while I’m feeding her. Sadly, this time usually becomes one of me aimlessly scrolling through social medial. Sometime I’m engaged with friends, or tweeting out something about this blog, but mostly I am wasting time. So, one of my goals this year is to utilize that time wisely and make it count. And one of the ways I will be doing that is by using the devotional Daily Guideposts 2016. Each day has a one page devotion, starting with a scripture and then a short story centered around the scripture, and ending with a short prayer. This year is the Daily Guideposts 40th anniversary, which is incredible, and the theme is “Abide In Me”, which comes from John 15:4-11. What could be more fitting?

I’m thrilled to be using this beautiful book as a way to draw closer to Christ and to use my time intentionally. This, coupled with daily prayer, will be perfect for this busy mom of two to come unto Christ. I think we often think that we need to spend hours upon hours meditating in order to feel like a “real” follower of Christ. I disagree. I think spending even just a few minutes make Him happy. We have children to raise, work to do, homes to take care of. He knows this, He understands this. I belive that as long as we are striving to make Him a priority, it doesn’t matter whether we read 1 verse or 1 chapter or 1 book a day. What matters is our heart and our intentions. And if we are striving to draw near unto Him, and to emulate Him in all we do, well, I believe He is pleased.

What ways are you planning on inviting God into your life this coming year? Have you used a devotional book before? Did you enjoy it?

I was given free product from Family Christian in exchange for an honest review.
All opinions are my own.
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