I am excited for a fresh start in 2014. Because I know that even though I am a follower of Jesus, I am a sinner every day. There is the saying (I don’t know from where, sorry… ), that whatever we feed in our lives will grow, not just our bellies, but every habit in our lives, whether good or bad. We are never staying exactly the same, we are always either shrinking or growing in every area of our lives. And for a while now I have been feeding a few of the wrong habits, like:
Food: One of the ways I am coping with culture shock is baking constantly (in my tiny toaster oven, which I know is funny to imagine but it’s true) and then eating way too much of what I bake, so starting today we are going to stop feeding ourselves as much bad and more of what is good again. I have realized that food is actually one of my biggest passions and joys in life, which is not bad, but I have to be careful that it doesn’t consume me or ever become an idol in my life.
Exercise: With a smaller living space, no more gym to go to, and colder days, I have not been moving enough, so today I am starting to work on this too. Not to lose weight, but to be stronger and healthier (in all ways). I still don’t have a great strategy, so pray for that, because those first three barriers are still present.
Learning: I actually love to read and learn, but this is not a habit I feed nearly as much as I would like too. It’s probably because I’m always baking or cooking. So I want to learn to carve out more space in my life for learning and experiencing new things.
Prayer life: This is the hardest one to freely admit but it is true and I know others can relate so I will share it. My prayer life has been really struggling lately, I know because as I look through my prayer journal, there are several weeks or sometimes whole months missing. I am not sure why, and I am tempted to blame culture shock, or spiritual warfare, or anything else, but the true blame rests with me. God is always present and it is just me he is waiting for to show up. So I am working on that too.
I will post part two to this tomorrow, because I don’t want it to be so long I bore you all to tears. But have a happy new year and come back tomorrow to read part two.
Food: One of the ways I am coping with culture shock is baking constantly (in my tiny toaster oven, which I know is funny to imagine but it’s true) and then eating way too much of what I bake, so starting today we are going to stop feeding ourselves as much bad and more of what is good again. I have realized that food is actually one of my biggest passions and joys in life, which is not bad, but I have to be careful that it doesn’t consume me or ever become an idol in my life.
Exercise: With a smaller living space, no more gym to go to, and colder days, I have not been moving enough, so today I am starting to work on this too. Not to lose weight, but to be stronger and healthier (in all ways). I still don’t have a great strategy, so pray for that, because those first three barriers are still present.
Learning: I actually love to read and learn, but this is not a habit I feed nearly as much as I would like too. It’s probably because I’m always baking or cooking. So I want to learn to carve out more space in my life for learning and experiencing new things.
Prayer life: This is the hardest one to freely admit but it is true and I know others can relate so I will share it. My prayer life has been really struggling lately, I know because as I look through my prayer journal, there are several weeks or sometimes whole months missing. I am not sure why, and I am tempted to blame culture shock, or spiritual warfare, or anything else, but the true blame rests with me. God is always present and it is just me he is waiting for to show up. So I am working on that too.
I will post part two to this tomorrow, because I don’t want it to be so long I bore you all to tears. But have a happy new year and come back tomorrow to read part two.
