New Year's Resolutions

It's the beginning of January so many are talking and blogging about New Year Resolutions. Most are idealistic lists that are forgotten by February if not sooner. As I thought about this, I felt God say over and over, "It is not about you trying harder. It is not about you doing more. It is about you doing less and trusting in what I am doing and already have done."

Our family is not on a week or two-week short-term mission trip. We have been living and ministering in the Philippines for over seven months now and plan on being here for at least 17 more. There are challenges that we face here that come from living in a third world country. Language. Water. Just getting and preparing food each day takes a great amount of time and energy. Relationship. Being far from family and friends is difficult...There are many stresses we face that we would not be, if we were still living in the States. Because of all this, it has becoming increasingly clear we need to be doing less. We need to have more time for each other. There will still be times to be teaching others about Jesus but there needs to be more time to listen to Him. It is easy to fill our calendar with good things but we want to make sure our calendar is not so full we miss the "God" things. The needs are great all around us but as I have been studying the Scriptures I am noticing that Jesus did not accept every invitation to speak and preach. He did not heal everyone. He did not provide food for all that were hungry. He just did what His Father told Him to do.

Lisa