New Year's Resolutions

OK, this may surprise some, but I do not believe in New Year's Resolutions. What, are you for real?
Yes I am.  I have never been one to make a promise to myself that I was unsure if I could keep it. Year after year I hear others making these "resolutions" statements. Then within a month they are forgotten.  To me one is setting themselves up for disappointment and failure. Whether it be finances, your weight, your exercise pattern, or hundreds of other topics, when we put that in a box titled a resolution then we usually fail at that topic.
Fail is a strong word isn't it. And face it, none of us like to fail. So then we feel ashamed of ourselves, we feel like failures.
I know that our Lord Jesus did not create us to be failures. He did not create us to limit our "ideals" to a box. Jesus Christ loves each and every one of us. His desire is for us to succeed, but most of all for us to be closer to Him.
When I refer to a resolution that is totally different than a goal. I do set goals for myself. But when we do set those goals we tend to not set the bar too high. Goals are meant to be reachable, then we extend it further. However, when I set a goal, I do just that, a goal. Not 5,6 or 10 goals, but 1 goal. If we overload our "goal list" then we fall back into that scenario of failure. When we set a goal, then we can reach that goal and move on to a new goal. It may take a month, or two. Then again it may take a year. But that doesn't matter, as long as we are reaching for that goal we are succeeding.
OK so what is my goal for the New Year? I tend to stick to the same goal every year, and I think this is the most important goal we could ever set. My goal is getting closer to my Lord Jesus everyday. Reading His Word, praying to Him, striving to please Him. Our Lord wants nothing more than to have that intimate relationship with Him, one that grows deeper everyday.
You might be thinking what about my weight, or my finances, etc.  When we are striving to have that relationship with Jesus and keeping Him Lord of our life, do you think Jesus may be taking care of those concerns we have? I do! When we are not consumed any longer about our "situations" and more consumed with our relationship with our Lord, then before we even realize it, He has taken care of those things for us, or given us strategies to improve those situations.
I have faced many physical trials in my life. The 2 major ones being the spinal cord damage and leukemia. I could easily get into a mindset of failure because I can no longer do the things I always enjoyed. But what I have experienced is when I am more consumed in my relationship with Jesus than I am on my trials, then I no longer am stressing out over those things. Then the next thing I know is those things do not seem like a mountain I cannot climb, instead a hill that Jesus is helping me get over.
I hope this encourages you friends. You all are important to Jesus, and He wants you to succeed. He loves us!
I want to thank you all for continuing to read my blog. This in itself has encouraged me throughout the year.  I pray this year I can continue to be an encouragement to you all.
God bless you all!
Kathryn