The Kitchen Table: What Are You Seeking For 2014?

When the New Year rolls around most of us desire to make change in our lives. We want to be healthier, happier, engaged, buy a home, have a baby, get a higher education, a promotion, new job, more money, travel and the list goes on. We set goals or make resolutions as to how we are going to achieve these things. Some of us are going to try online dating to see if we can meet Mr. Right and others will join a weight loss program and or gym to lose weight and have a healthier lifestyle. The World gives us so many options on how to achieve a new lifestyle of happiness and financial freedom, but should we listen to it? No way! Yet we do buy into the World’s concept of doing things on a daily bases. But the truth is—we should be striving to follow God’s MO (Motive of Operation) and His way of doing things.

There is not one of us who doesn’t need change in our lives, and I say that with much confidence because I know it to be the truth. Because we are ALL still a work in progress, so therefore change and improvement are needed for growth! And if we could achieve greatness or stable change on our own, we would not need the help of the Holy Spirit or God’s Mo. But we do!

In the book of Matthew, Jesus talks about why we should not worry about and chase the things that the World does. He assures us that our Father knows what we have need of and is very capable of making sure they are meant, so we should focus on seeking the things of God’s Kingdom and righteousness and He will make sure all other things are taken care of. (Read Matthew 6:25-34) So do you think by doing things His way we will have success and staying power? You better believe it!

Are your finances in trouble? The World says, “Go back to college” and it doesn’t matter how much debt you will incur or that you will be worse off than when you started so you can make more money. But God has the right solution for you. It might be as simple as stop being wasteful and making poor and unwise decisions with your money. It could be the realization that buying things is not the way to happiness and it is time to get out of debt. Maybe you need to downsize or you need to wait patiently on Him for a promotion or better job. All you have to do, is seek Him for the answer.

You need to lose weight and keep it off. Weight Watchers might be the answer for you, but then again it may not. You may not have the money it will cost to join and follow the diet, but that doesn’t rule you out for a healthier lifestyle, no, you just have to seek God how it is to be done and what is the root to your problem so that you will keep it off and be successful.

Your marriage is rocky and you are not happy. Maybe you do need to see a marriage counselor, but I would seek God first because if He is not the center of it—you have the makings for disaster. But then again, it could be as simple as you looking at the part you are playing in the unhappiness of your marriage and deciding to do things God’s way. You know—a soft answer stops the argument—you start being a wise woman and build your house up versus tear it down like a foolish one does. Because that is God’s MO to a happy home!

I don’t have anything against online dating except—you better make darn sure this is something God has instructed you to do! Don’t listen to your friends, TV ads or the foolishness of your own heart—wait on God. Because acknowledging God in all our ways is doing things His way.

I saw numerous posts on Facebook the past few days that all people wanted for 2014 was to be happy. So, it prompted me to look up the definition of happy, so we could have a common understanding. Happy: (adj) feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. Synonyms: cheerful, cheery, merry, joyful, jovial, jolly, jocular, gleeful, carefree, untroubled, delighted, smiling, beaming, grinning, in good spirits, in a good mood, lighthearted, pleased, radiant, and sunny. Now I understand why the Bible tells us nothing about being happy, because the above definitions are used in the content of emotions which can easily betray us at any given moment. But in seeking God’s way of doing things, we are promised a “Joy” that will surpass all human understanding and it has nothing to do with man’s definition or expectation of happiness.

Sisters, could we have been approaching this all wrong? Do we now have a glimpse as to why, things are just not working out for us and each New Year’s we are talking about the same stuff we wanted to do last year and the year before that! We don’t need the gym membership, nicotine patches, marriage counseling, a dating service, higher education, bigger bank account, bigger house or newer car if God is not the center of it all! All we need is Him and then He will take care of adding on and leading us to get to those other things...if it is His will for us.

Let us join together and believe that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and His way of doing things!! Amen!