New Year's "Resolutions"?

We all have them. New year's resolutions I mean. They are something we "resolve" to do before the end of the year. They are usually in the form of:
"Reading a book",
"Losing weight",
"Working out",
"Keeping a clean house",
"Beating an addiction", etc.
However, tonight in church I was thinking about everything I was planning for my New Year's Resolution list. They were pretty generic for me.
Read through the Bible in a Year
Lose a pound per day until the wedding...ok, maybe that's too much, but it's a good thought to lose weight right?
Walk each and every day to the Wadesboro Park and walk/run the 1 mile loop
Then I started thinking about my prayer life. It was there, but...it was definitely not in the shape I wanted it to be. Something was missing, I knew that, and I knew what, but I didn't know how to change it. What was missing? I wasn't Thanking God for things? I mean, it was very general, like, "Thank you for this day" etc. However, I wasn't really THANKING Him, nor praising Him for blessings and other things. But another thought struck me. I'm also supposed to thank God for trials. I'm supposed to THANK Him!? I'm supposed to Praise Him...WHAT?! He wants me to be GRATEFUL when something HORRIBLE happens? Something is wrong with this picture. VERY wrong. However...not really.

In His Word, He says to "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." ~ Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice evermore." ~ I Thessalonians 5:16. It doesn't say "Rejoice if things are going well for you." or even, "Rejoice if most things are working for you." or even, "Rejoice when at least you're not dead.". It says, very plainly, Rejoice in EVERYTHING. I am afraid I don't do that! I'm afraid a lot of us don't.

We treat a trial that God puts us through as a thing to be dreaded. Why? It's like what Pastor Dave at Calvary Baptist Church in Cheraw, South Carolina tonight said in his message. He said, (and I'm paraphrasing), "The greater/more severe the trial or testing is, God's grace is as equally great." I Corinthians 10:13 says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it]." We might not think it, but, even when God seems a million miles away, with his back to us, He's right there beside us. He's listening as we have our hands over our head, curling up in a ball sobbing and asking, "Why? Why God? Help me! Jesus, please! Help me." I can imagine Him listening to us plead with tears in His eyes, and a hand we can't feel around our shoulders whispering, "I'm right here. Breathe. Listen for me. I'm calling for you to lean on me! Come to me. I'm right here." Sometimes we pull away, sometimes we lean on Him. The point is, how we respond is the important thing. Do we lean on Him, thank Him for bringing the trial into our life, accept it, and try to learn something from it? Or do we pull away, become bitter, deny the "problem" in front of us, and refuse to acknowledge anything is wrong?

Some would say that God doesn't bring them into our lives. I don't know...I believe He brings some trials into our lives simply to help us grow and become more like His Son. Do I believe we should just sit there and say "Woa is me, I'm going through this trial that is from God..."? No. However, at the same time, I don't believe we're supposed to fight what God is trying to teach us.

However, I'm starting to go off on a rabbit trail. My point in this note is this. When it comes to my prayer life, I'm going to start writing verses and sticking them above me on the head of my bed, or else on the wall. That way when I start to pray, I won't be able to help but be reminded to thank and praise Him. Now whether I am reminded to praise and thank Him in EVERYTHING is a completely different story, but I do know this, and I keep saying this, "Everything in life is a choice." If I choose to get discouraged in the middle of a trial, I have chosen to pull away from His loving hands. But if I run to Him, the trial won't be nearly so difficult to bear because I might be bearing the test, but Jesus is carrying me. If that isn't a wonderful hope, I don't know what is!

God Bless as you start 2012!!! Keep looking up!