Adios 2012

The year is coming to an end! Praise, honor and glory to Him who has and continues to lavish me with His love and faithfulness.

Over the year, I have grown deeper and gained 5 inches to my growth with Him. Praise God! I am grateful for the wisdom that blossomed from the disappointment, the pain and the experiences that I have encountered this year. Indeed, without the Lord's constant availability and presence, I would have rotted in self-diminishing thoughts and self-pity.  I have learned how grace envelopes and strengthens. Maintaining a sensitive heart and believing constantly that He was near, led me to be in awe of His powerful grace. Day by day, minute by minute, I chose to trust that God would give me the strength to dismiss the negativity that came to mind. Taking captive every thought and assaulting it with His sword of truth, got me thus far. I have learned to see God through the lenses of grace and to authentically understand what it means to die to self. I have learned to hold on tightly to the truth that "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).

I have also come to realize that respect, convictions, and wisdom are the most needed qualities in this world today but it is also the most easily forgotten virtues that we tend to overlook and don't posses. To earn respect, we must exude it. Without standards, without principles, without barriers, one should not expect respect. It is earned through responsibility. Convictions and wisdom give you strong footing to withstand the vile attacks of the enemy. The lure of this world and the desires of our hearts may snatch us without realizing how deeply involved we already are.  Charles Swindoll said, "Wisdom comes from privately from God as a by-product of right decisions, godly reactions, and the application of scriptural principles to daily circumstances." 

Heart without wisdom is destined for chaos. I'm through with permitting my heart to take the lead on the decision-making. Wisdom (or simply, practical common sense) need to make herself comfortable in the throne of my thoughts, my heart, and my actions. As the Bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) One must truly discover and acknowledge the weaknesses of their own hearts. Whatever they are, the enemy surely awaits and prowls to take over. Be on guard and grow in the knowledge of the Lord to know how to guard your own. All heart without a sound mind leads to rationalization. Rationalization silences reality. Emotions cloud judgement. We know we fatten up our tendency to rationalize when the sins are obvious yet we gloss over them. We know that we allow the feast of rationalization to merrily continue on when we disguise our excuses with flowery words or spiritual phrases to talk ourselves out of a bad situation. C'mon. Let's not kid ourselves. Be real. Be honest. What do you really want? I have learned to honestly expose an unwise option wrapped in fluffy white sheep's clothing. 

Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Proverbs 4:26

The time is ripe to leave all heedless tendencies and grow up. To leverage what I know now and realize my design. As Paul has said, "When i was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." (1 Corinthians 13:11)

Here's to a beautiful redemptive 2013! Goodbye 2012! You have taught me well!