I will lift my eyes

"GOD, my GOD, I cry out...Your beloved needs You now.  GOD, my GOD, be near, calm my fear and take my doubt.  Your kindness is what pulls me up and your love is all that draws me in... I will lift my eyes to the Maker of the mountains I can't climb, I will lift my eyes to the Calmer of the oceans raging wild, I will lift my eyes to the Healer of the hurt I hold inside.  I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes, to You." ~I Will Lift My Eyes, Bebo Norman

Such a beautiful song!  It's an amazing reminder to me of God's tender side, but also His power and might.  Isn't that something we all need to be reminded of?!  The challenges I've been giving myself this week all boil down to this-- I want to lift my eyes to none other than the Author and Finisher of my faith.  I only want to look up to Jesus Christ, my Lord.  The things I want to challenge myself to do are things that I think at times, This is impossible.  They're very tough for me.  But I can do anything through Christ, who gives me the strength needed to get through every battle.

My life challenge this past week has been to pray constantly for people.  Not just people I know or like, not just those who ask for prayer.  I want to be that prayer warrior who people can count on; I want to be that person whose first response to any situation is always going to God in prayer.  And I don't want to do this out of mindless obedience-- I honestly love God and want to talk to Him all the time!  My prayer life has almost always been strong, but I want it to get even stronger.
My creativity challenge was to work on finishing my book, and although I haven't finished it yet, I am closer than I was at the beginning of the week.  I'm about 4,500 words away from my goal, which is fantastic.  I have never, ever been this close to finishing a full-length novel.   That in itself is a win for me!
My project challenge for the previous week was to do physical therapy every day (note: I had this challenge before).  I am still struggling to get done each day the things that are important, but I did better last week than the week before and my goal is to do better this week than last week.

After a very emotional weekend, with many ups and downs, I am ready to start the new week and go forward. 
~Laurel