Reflections on 2009: It is amazing the journey that God will take you on each year if you let Him. These represent thoughts, lessons, and moments over the course of the last year. May you be blessed as you read them and inspired to intentionally see God in your life in 2010!

  1. I have learned that no matter how hard you try, you can’t make someone change their belief about themselves.
  2. You can’t transport people out of their state of being just because you live your life with a different state of mind.
  3. Only you can decide.
  4. Only you can change you. Stop trying to change other people.
  5. People will disappoint you, but you determine how you respond.
  6. Sometimes, time is the only answer to unresolved emotions.
  7. God answers prayer and God heals.
  8. God provides beyond our ability to adequately thank Him. So thank Him anyway.
  9. People are the most important.  Stuff just adds clutter.
  10. Cars require maintenance or they won’t work.
  11. If your wheel has a nail in it, you will have to fill the tire up with air using an air compressor multiple times.
  12. Peace, tranquility, and calm are treasures.
  13. Go as far as you can then you will see farther.
  14. Do something that seems impossible and you will see God come through.
  15. You can’t out give God.
  16. When a gift has to fit in a letter envelope, you learn that it really is the thought that counts not the stuff.
  17. Extend your arms and you will embrace/include/love more people.
  18. Don’t let fear stop you.
  19. When you do something, be fully present. You can’t be effective without being fully present.
  20. Love your current season in life.
  21. Change is inevitable. Embrace it.
  22. Invest in people. It will surprise you, but at some point, you will get blessed in return.
  23. Stop being so small. Life is not limited to a box.
  24. Some things you can’t understand. You just have to accept.
  25. Seek to understand more than to be understood.
  26. Cling to God in the good instead of just the bad.  Don’t forget about His faithfulness.
  27. Just start something. Forward motion can be in short supply.
  28. Christians are like cow manure. Spread them out and they nourish, yet stinky in a clump.
  29. Extend your hand to people who can give you nothing in return.
  30. Be bold.
  31. Don’t say never, because you might be signing yourself up by saying it.
  32. Share your journey with others.  Your experience might be someone else’s encouragement.
  33. Hold on to the stair rail when walking up the stairs or you might fall.
  34. Set a goal and accomplish it. The feeling of accomplishment will propel you forward into the next goal.
  35. God believes in you to reach people. Believe, as well.
  36. Love the people more than the task at hand.
  37. Remember God’s blessing and provision to help you overcome current struggles.
  38. Fight for your time with God. It’s worth it.
  39. Persevere through uncomfortable growth and stretch.
  40. Maximize each day. For at year’s end, you can thank God for a full year J
  41. If you want to serve God in the church and make a difference, start stacking chairs.
  42. People who stay and live in the “waiting place” will stifle your dreams.
  43. Celebrate God’s victories in other people’s lives.
  44. Have people in your life that throw you overboard.
  45. Make room for margin in your life.
  46. Choose to see God in the little things.
  47. Listen to the voice of God. It will lead you where you least expected.
  48. Be a passionate person.  It will change the environment of people surrounding you.
  49. The biggest moments in our lives are so small compared to what God wants to do.
  50. Never allow yourself to arrive. Continually grow, change, and dream.