Determined

My sweet little one napping

"Little One" I say to my daughter, "lunch is over it is time for your nap." at that very moment my daughter's eyes turn away from me and a pout forms on her little mouth. I know this look. She has a look of determination not to take her much needed nap. I escort her to the potty and she fights me but she goes. Then I hold her hand and to her bed we go. My son calls to me for help from the kitchen so I go see what he needs. When I return my daughter is no longer in the room but has made her way to the kitchen. Standing there in her room I beckon her to come to take her nap but she only stomps her little feet and shakes her head, "No" she says. At that moment I know that she is getting in her bed weather she likes it or not. She needs her nap. I go to pick her up but I am met with swinging little hands and fingers that try to pinch any part of my flesh that they can grab. What has happened to my sweet little loving, affectionate two year old? In the end there were tears but to bed she went.



This incident reminds me of the word I have chosen for the year DE-TER-MINED. By definition the word determined is an adjective and it means having made a firm decision and being resolved not to change it. Synonyms for this word include the words inflexible, unfaltering and unwavering. 
The scripture that I use to sum all this up in is the found in Psalm, it reads "Wait for the LORD; 

be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!" Psalm 27:14

There are many things that I long for this year, not just in our homeschool travels, but also in my marriage and my own walk with the Lord. And as I sat down reflecting about the year 2012, I made a list of all the things I wanted to change in the upcoming year and most of these changes could be made if I just changed my own attitude. 

I want a better marriage/be a better wife, I want to be a better mom to my kids and above all else I want to be a better servant to my Lord Jesus. That is when I remembered one of the most well known bible verses most Christians now but I think at times we take it for granted and its just a verse we can repeat by memory but sometimes never stop and meditate about what the Lord is saying to us

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

And it seems so simple the Lord knows the plans that He has for me, plans for good not disaster, to give me a future and a hope. If I desire these things I stated above the Lord surely would not hold these desires, which are desires He has put in my heart, from me. Only I have the faulty nature inside of me to do so, and so this year I am determined not to get in the Lords way. He knows what He is doing and I just have to move out of His way and follow Him.