New Year New Me; Fifty is the new 40

Today I am a year older than I was last week. Yesterday I celebrated my  "BIG FIVE-O" birthday, which I  have to say was extremely enjoyable.  As far as I am concerned (I guess that goes without saying since this is  my blog), I spent the day in a perfect way, starting with attending Worship with my children (Courtney included-Phillip's girlfriend), then we had lunch together at one of my favorite local restaurants. To finish the day we watched the Steeler's game as a family. Of course, Bob was rooting for Tim Tebow and the Broncos. The rest of us were cheering on our team-The Steelers!!! It would have been a great final birthday present of the day if  MY team would have won! Although, I have to say loosing to the Broncos was less painful than most other teams! I am a closet Tim Tebow fan! SO, now I am on the Bronco's Band Wagon!

Speaking of Tim Tebow; you have to love a person who has a great faith in Jesus Christ, lives out his convictions on and off the playing field and who is not afraid to speak out for his Savior or take criticism for his beliefs.  I have been thinking a lot about this young man lately. He is the type of role model we need in today's society for young and old alike.  In fact, I think we all could take a life-lesson on our Faith Journey for 2012. 

Christ has called us to let our light shine (Matthew 5:14-15) in all we do. The World tells us that it is not "politically correct" to speak of our faith to others who might be offended. However, Christ tells us that we are the light of the world! We are not to let our light shine in secret, under a bushel, bowl or bag it up for when it is "appropriate", "easy" or "convenient" for us to Shine.  No, we are to let our light shine in all we do, all we say, and all that we are.  That pretty much spells out why I am on Tim Tebow's wagon. Not only am I watching him, cheering him on, but more importantly. I am praying for him.

The World is watching him, waiting to see what he does, what he says, how he behaves. You and I may never have a "world" audience, but we do have an opportunity to pray for this young man to be fruitful in his faith,  God-directed in his decisions, and steadfast in his steps. The World is watching the young man with the record breaking playoff yardage of 316, and average pass yardage of 31.6.  Coincidence? Not if you believe in the sovereignty of God.  Too bad Tim's name isn't John ;-).  Even so, God can use these numbers and this young man named Tim to spread His gospel of John 3:16!  How? Because the World is watching, the Press is Proclaiming His message just by telling the Tim Tebow story. The Media is perpetuating the Good News of Jesus Christ , whether they want to or not, just by reporting the Tim Tebow news. Isn't it just like God to use a source to spread His message of love and restoration through a vehicle that has so often rejected His message! You have to love the irony of this!

Speaking of irony...I am proclaiming that "50 IS the NEW 40" :-D!  I really don't understand why people get all wigged out about birthdays and age. First of all, I love birthdays. In fact, I personally have a birthday month. I have done this for years. At the risk of sounding narsasistic, I enjoy celebrating ME. I have worked hard for the years that I have arrived at. I am proud of the goals I have achieved in my life. I am grateful for the grace God has extended to me and for all that he has enabled me  to overcome in my life, mostly self-inflicted, to be brutally honest!

I have recently been told that, "I am a legend in my own mind" (thank you sister ;-). In reality, I guess there is some truth in that. God has blessed me with a healthy self-esteem. My Mother often conveyed to me to think positively and rebuke all negative "self-talk". I don't know about you, but much of my self-talk attempts to be distructive! Especially, when I look in the miror my self-talk sound something like this; "You need to loose some weight, can't you do something with that hair, maybe you should get that "thing" removed from your forehead ( a teeneage popcorn incident-story for another time), do you really want to wear that today...blah, blah, blah and on it could go! However, thanks to my Mom and to God, I rebuke that negative thought and "self-talk" and turn it into a postive. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 is the Bibilical proof that good self-talk is ordained by God.  Christ is not glorified by negative self-talk, instead we have to reign our thoughts into the obedience of Christ. Phillipians 4:8 reminds us to think on what is true, good, worthy of praise.

Well it is very true that I need to loose wieght, dwelling on the negativity is not going to help me to become motivated to actually DO something about it.  I must turn the negative thought into positive action. With the help of Christ I will be able to focus on what I need to do to bring my actions, thoughts and what I put into my body under the obedience of Christ. If I do that in all my activites, it puts a wonderfully new motivational angle on difficult activities for me.  Which brings me to my 2012 verse; Romans 12: 1-2 (The Message):
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the bestst out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

I know this was a long blog today. God bless you if you have stayed with me to the bitter end. You are a true friend ;-).  I hope  my  somewhat random journaling thoughts have challenged you today, made you smile or got you thinking.  Have a great week!

Enjoy the Journey,
Laura