Everywoman

Soul Food

End of Year Review

For some years now, the end of the year has been a time where I’ve done a review. Amid the festivities and pressies and food, it’s been the ideal time to take stock of life and begin to seek God for the coming year. It’s turned my New Year’s Resolutions into a spiritual discipline and helped me get some focus for the time ahead. Review times have been times of thanksgiving and celebration for breakthroughs, but also wrestling times over unanswered prayer and difficulties. They’ve help me gauge what’s really happening in my relationship with the Lord, and how what he’s doing in my life. As a result, they’ve become an essential part of my relationship with God.

Whilst lots of things come up, my review is broken into 3 main parts. In my years at St. Thomas, we used the Lifeshapes discipleship tools, one of which was called the TRIANGLE. The triangle explores the 3 priorities we see in Jesus life – Up, a relationship with the father, in – relationships with his covenant community, other believers, and an OUT relationship to the world around him. So adapting what I learned, my review was broken down into the following

How am I doing spiritually? It covers prayer, bible study, spiritual battles and deserts and breakthroughs. Am I secure in my relationship with God as my Father, am I surrendered to God as my Lord and King?

 How am I doing relationally? This area looked at how my friendships were doing, relationships with guys, and my single years. Now it focuses on my marriage, and kids and friendships. But as I attend to this area, it would highlight attitudes and insecurities, frustrations, how I dealt with conflicts, as well as how God had met me through the people in my life

How am I doing physically? This area worked twofold: on one level it looked at some of the practical areas of my life, money, health, work, etc. How well was I engaging with life in the real world as it were? But then it  also explored calling, and witness and social action. Had I shared Jesus with anyone, who was I seeing come to faith? How active were my relationships with non Christians? How am I engaging with the Lord’s call on my life? How am I responding to the pressing issues and needs of the world around me?

So that’s how I review the year. How do you take stock of what is happening in your life?

(for more info on LifeShapes – check out www.3dministries.com)

Tags: Soul Food