...Be like Him

Hello, All!  At least I hope there are enough of your reading this to constitute an "all".  Today is my 54th birthday, and I thought I'd give myself a gift and write a blog.  I hope you'll enjoy reading my thoughts and that you'll find some inspiration, hope, humor, and maybe even some useful information here. 

I find myself telling friends all the time that when I grow up I want to be just like them.  Last night, I got to thinking about a title for this blog, and decided I'd write about the things I want to do when I grow up.  I'd better hurry, don't you think, since I'm 54!  Then I thought, number one, I want to be like Jesus more each day.  That's the best anyone could ever hope to do.  He's been working on me for a very long time, and He continues to work on me each day and will until I meet Him face to face.  So, as I've pondered what changes need to be made in my life, some things jumped out at me and hit me square in the face.  Don't you hate that?  In this case it's a good thing. 

Some of the things I want to work on this year are:

Prayer.  I pray all through the day already, and have some great prayer warrior friends.  We share needs and talk to the Lord constantly about those needs.  So many people have prayed for me over the past few years that I know the power of prayer.  You see, I've had a kidney transplant, and multiple surgeries since then.  It was three years ago next month that I received a kidney from a friend at our church, a young man of 29 years, who has the wisdom of a man at least twice his age.  He and his beautiful, sweet wife and their children have become family to us.  Also, all the people who have prayed for me and my family are our family now.  We have grown so close to all of these wonderful friends.  Even though I pray a lot, I want my prayer life to become deeper and more meaningful.  I just want to be closer to Jesus.

Bible study.  I've started a Bible study at our church along with about 100 other women and it is one of the best things I've ever done.  It's only eleven weeks along and I've already learned a ton.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to study the Old Testament with a group so that I can hear what they get from the lessons.  I'm looking forward to learning more each week.

Giving.  I love to give of myself, my time, talents and money to others.  However, there have been some obstacles in the past few years.  First there was kidney failure; then dialysis; then the transplant (which went very well!), an episode of rejection of the kidney which was turned around quickly, but left me more immunocompromised; then various other surgeries and illnesses.  Throughout all of these God has taught me so much, and I'm so thankful to Him for seeing me through all of these and teaching me important life lessons.  I want to share all of that with others.  That's one reason for this blog.

So, that's just a sample of what I want to be when I grow up.  There's a song that speaks to this.  The lyrics are simple, but they say it all.

He's still working on me
To make me what I ought to be.
It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars,
The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars.
How loving and faithful He must be.
He's still working on me.
(Words and music by Joel Hemphill)

We're all a work in progress.  I hope you'll come along with me on my journey.