To Succeed in life...

I was reading today in a NEW devotional book that I received from my mom. She said to me, "if you read nothing else in this book, you need to read this one" and she pointed it out. And, she was right, it was great!

Do you ever wake up and think, "ugh, here we go same old same old, all over again... Man I wish my life was more fun, or had more of a meaning!" I have a wonderful and I do mean WONDERFUL husband that I love more than I can put into words. I have two BEAUTIFUL miracle babies that God has gifted me. We are blessed with way more than we deserve, two cars, a beautiful warm home, food on our table, nice clothes... Let's face it, when we start to make a list, it's sort of endless for all we are thankful for.

But besides the physical gifts God gives us, he also blesses us with other gifts; leadership, compassion, faith, teaching, communication, giving... again, the list here is endless. Wouldn't it be great, to wake up one day and feel like you are using ALL God has given you? Kind of hard to imagine for me - I think he has given me so much and I don't come close to using in all! God gave us these gifts so that we would use them to serve him and others. (1Peter 4:10-11)

In the devotional I am reading, it says you need these three things "to succeed in life"- you ready, here goes:
1.) You must refuse to settle for yesterday's accomplishments. If what you did yesterday still looks big to you today, you probably haven't done enough today.
2.) You must refuse to sit around waiting for tomorrow's opportunities. Between the great things we can't do and the little things we won't do, the danger is that we'll do nothing. The world is blessed most by those who do things, not by those who merely talk about doing them.
3.) You must refuse to let your beginning dictate your end. You may have a rough start, but you with God, you can have a beautiful finish.
(All taken from Daily Devotional - The word for you today, Bob Gass Ministries)

If you knew you were going to leave this world in one month, what would you do from now until then? I would bet that your day to day, would look a whole lot different. Now I know realistically we can't live exactly as if we had only one month left to live... I know if that was my case, I would no longer be spending hours working, those hours would be with my family and loved ones... I know we can't all get up and quit our jobs for a month to do all we want to do. But maybe your prayer, as mine will be, God, would you open my eyes, so that I may see - Ps 119:18 God would you open my eyes to see all that you want for me. God will you help guide and direct me, show me lord what I can do here on earth to bring glory to your name!! God, I want to make EACH and EVERY day count.

Many of us, myself COMPLETELY included here, will pray and pray and pray for something. And we think just because God isn't answering that one prayer, he isn't hearing us, or he doesn't care. Well, my eyes have been opened a little to this, maybe if I keep praying for GOD'S work to be done in my life, and not for my OWN, then, maybe he will reveal the plans he has for me, in the "Bigger Picture".

I guess it just goes back to not wanting to wake up one day and wonder where my life went. Wonder who was I really living for? Was I more worried about the new latest and greatest "thing" or was I more concerned about using my resources to help move the kingdom of God further. For me, you can keep the fancy this, that and the other, I think for me and my family, we will chose to live within our means which God has provided, and we will choose to follow what God has for our lives. I can only hope as a parent that I will bring my children up with this as their hearts passion.

I use to care what other people thought, now I just care about what God thinks. He's really all that matters in the "bigger picture".

                                                        "God open my eyes, that I may see"

                                                                         Psalm 119:18

***For some encouraging reading, read the life story about George Washington Carver (I'm sure you can get the big picture of his life on Wikipedia) and if you have kids, even if you don't, I recommend this book, it's a kids book, not a chapter book, called "The boy who changed the world" - it was a book gifted to my son, from a dear friend, and probably will be one of the best gifts he has received.***