As a new year starts, so many of us are reflecting on the past year and setting new goals for life, business, everything... Yet, often within just a few weeks, we are back to our old routines, old habits, and feeling down about our failures. The goals that we set or the changes we want to make are often wonderful ideas so why do they fail? Could their failure be due to the fact that we aren't considering God's Biblical Order? 

You can't deny that our world today is out of sorts. Up is down, left is right, wrong is ok. Society has done a great job of distorting Gods original design. Satan is really good at putting in distractions and he plays off our emotions; we make excuses for our lack of discipline or say we will try again tomorrow. The truth is that we need to rethink not only our long-term goals for the new year, but even when we plan our daily lives.

So, what is Biblical Order? From my understanding, the Bible explains that...

#1 God

#2 Submitting to Jesus and the Holy Spirit

#3 Family with Husband above your Children

and then in no particular order you have #4 Health, Work, Church/Community

Practically speaking, what does it mean to put God first? To me this means that before we do anything each day, we need to be checking in with God. So, before we scroll social media, before we check our emails, before we have a chance to let ourselves form how our day is going to go, we need to give God the chance to influence it. Having this God time could be through prayer or reading your Bible. For the last two years I have been trying to do the Bible Recap and read through the entire Bible, and it sounds easy, but it can be a struggle! I would get so frustrated with myself for falling behind or not feeling like I could connect with the text or I was so distracted while I was trying to read that it felt pointless; but a friend reminded me last year that no matter where you are reading, on track from the recap or off, God is going to use those words for you in some way. So now when I start my day, my first thought is how am I going to put God first today? And if it doesn't happen right off the bat #kids then it is on my mind constantly until I make it happen! Colossians 3:2 says, "Set your minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth." Any time that we get with God is going to set our minds to ponder Him and His words all day long. We need to seek God first in all our plans both daily and long standing because He is going to help us follow the path created intentionally for us. If our first goal each day is to understand God better than we are naturally going to align our thoughts and desires with His. As well, it is going to be easier to understand His desires and directions for us. Psalms 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart."  If we are just focused on what we want in our day or what goals we want to achieve, rather than prayerfully asking for God to open the right doors and to lead us then it makes sense that our New Year's Resolutions are going to fail or that our discipline is going to stink and we are going to revert back to our old ways. We need to align ourselves with God so that His desires will become our desires.

In terms of prayer, these discussions can look different at any point during the day; but I find that I am constantly praying, more than I ever realized! Sometimes I am praying for God to help my emotions. Sometimes it is for guidance with one of my children's behaviors. Sometimes it is for others for them to hear God and seek God. Sometimes it is for protection. Sometimes it is on my knees, other times it is while I'm doing dishes or laundry; sometimes it is while I am rocking the baby or putting the boys to bed. The beautiful thing about the Holy Spirit is that because of Jesus's sacrifice, the spirit can now live inside each of us if we ask God into our heart. That means He is never hiding from us, never gone from us. He literally lives within us, and He wants the best for us. Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray, to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." If our daily focus is on God, then we align even our prayers to what He wants for us rather than what we want for ourselves. He will reveal His plan to us or at least open the doors that we need to walk through. Sometimes this is the hardest part because we struggle with discernment; but the more clarity we ask for, I do believe He will show us.

After seeking God first, we then need to submit to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When you think of the Trinity, a great illustration is Neapolitan ice cream; you have the strawberry, vanilla and chocolate. In order for it to be Neapolitan you need all three. No one flavor can take the place of the other and all three are essential for the final product yet all three are unique. The way I think of Jesus's unique roll is that he is the one who creates this visual demonstration of character. I am a person who learns visually; within the Bible we see example after example of how Jesus demonstrated how we are to live. He showed us traits of kindness, compassion, courage, patience and total devotion to God. As we submit or give our day to Jesus, I believe this looks like asking for Jesus to show us ways and guide us to use those exact traits throughout our everyday interactions.  In terms of the Holy Spirit, I often think of his role as being our inner voice, the one that is quietly in our head and heart pushing us or pulling us. His is the voice that tells me to take a breath, when I really am ready to yell. His is the voice that tells me to think things through before reacting. His is the voice of reason. Psalms 16:3 says, "Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established." Here is where a lot of people get it wrong though... We believe that God is just going to give us what we want, what we are planning for but what it really means is that if we are seeking to understand God, give our character to Jesus and allow direction from the Holy Spirit, then surely we are following the path God wants us on which means that our plans are really His plans!

So, let's recap: God comes first and then submission to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Next comes family with your husband above your children. This is an area that often times gets flipped. I'm 100 percent guilty of it! As a mom, we can become so absorbed in the needs of our kids, especially if we have little ones and it can be easy to put your husband on the backburner. But I felt so called out on this recently and I am trying harder to really get back on track. I don't want my husband to just get the crumbs of me at the end of the day because in a few short years, my kids will be grown and out of the house, living their own lives, and I don't want to have to start from scratch with my marriage all over again. I want a strong marriage that can show my boys what it means to respect and love your spouse and God loves us. One way that I have been putting more focus on my husband is through prayer. I pray that he hears God; I pray for his leadership; I pray for his safety; I pray that our marriage will grow and that I can become a better helper for him. 1 Peter 4:10 says, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve on another, as good stewards of God's varied graces." Ephesians 4 calls us to be humble, gentle and patient, "bearing on another in love," with the goal of peace. Romans 12 calls for our love for one another to be genuine and to go above and beyond with zeal. When we put effort into our marriage it will bear fruit.

After our husband we are to put our children. One of our biggest goals as a parent should be to train our children in the ways of God. Our society tells us we should want to protect our kids from every hurt and hardship. We are told that it is more important to be their friend and that emotions and feelings trump all. While I do believe those are valid areas to consider while raising a child, it is off base. Deuteronomy 6 is talking about the commandments and verse 7 says, "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way and when you lie down, and when you rise." We should always be looking for ways to bring God into our daily interactions with our kids. If you are looking for some ways to do this specifically if you have boys, make sure to check out my chat with Alyssa Gale Season 4 Episode 16. But my point is that at the end of the day, what is more important... your child's favor or their relationship with God?

The last three areas I couldn't find that one was more important than the next, just that we were to spend time focusing on each. So, you have personal health, your church and community, and finally your work. The important thing to notes is that any one of these areas can be taken to the extreme while the others suffer and that isn't healthy. I believe we should have some focus on each of these every day. When I think about personal health and why that is important, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body." This may look different for everyone, but I think it boils down to making smart decisions about your health: Maybe that means cutting something out of your diet or adding something to your diet. Maybe that means considering your mental health and setting boundaries in your life. Ideally, we need to choose good things that are going to build us up rather than break us down.

Thinking out our church and our community... I have seen so many examples this past year where folks that we knew stepped up to help us in one way or another and it was so humbling. Maybe you are not in a season where you can commit to help in big ways, but the little things are just as important. One way that I feel we give back is through our Meal Donation reach out, usually these are for new moms or folks who are experiencing health problems but whenever I see that someone is in need of a meal, I usually try to sign up because I know what a blessing it was when I had my babies, to have others bring us meals. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up."

And finally, we are called to work. Adam was called to physical work in the Garden of Eden because work is good for us. There are not many days where I have the chance to be lazy but if I do get one of those days, I always feel so blah afterwards. However, if I would have been productive that day, I know that I would feel fulfilled. Laziness is a problem, but a lot of times people confuse laziness and rest. We are called to rest. It is ok to set your work down and rest, but you can rest in a positive way, one that builds you up rather than zapping you of the refreshed energy you were needing. Along those same lines, we should be completing our work as an act of worship rather than dragging our feet and grumbling. Believe me there are days where cleaning out cow pens have caused me to grumble but that's not what God wants us to do. Psalms 90:17 says, "Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands." If we are aligning ourselves with God, submitting our actions, mind and heart to Jesus and the Holy Spirit then it would make sense that the work we are doing is part of God's path for us and for that we should be thankful. Having a gratitude focus changes everything. Do I really want to go out in the dark and cold to milk cows, not really but I am blessed to have these animals that provide for our family. Do I always love doing 2 loads of laundry a day and line drying them. Not when I forget to bring the clothes in and they get snow covered, but all those clothes to tend to, means I have a house full of children that God entrusted us with. This list goes on and on. If we focus on the grateful aspect, it really does make the work worthwhile. 

Ok, so let's recap. We need to start everything we do by putting God first in our focus. That means if you're planning out your new year and the goals you want to accomplish, you need to check and see if they are really what God wants or what you want. Even your day-to-day planning, put God first so that He is on your mind constantly. Next, submit your heart, mind, and actions to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Ask them to lead you and your responses, as well as opening doors for the interactions that are supposed to happen. Next in line is your family with your husband above your children. Finally, spend time each day considering your personal health, your activities for your church and community, as well as spending time working. Making sure to keep these last three areas balanced.

God has created this beautiful plan for our life, but He has also given us free will. He wants us to be desperate for a relationship with him. When we put our focus on God then everything else will have His essence. It's kind of like your favorite perfume; you may just put a dab on your wrist, but you find that the scent lingers on your clothes, the rooms you travel through, and it lasts even days after. We want God to linger like that in everything that we do.