A New Year’s Update – and My One Goal (so far!) for 2018

Happy 3rd day of 2018!!  Hope you and your family enjoyed welcoming in the New Year!

As for us, we had an interesting end to 2017 and beginning of 2018.

Our family kept our regular Christmas Eve tradition of going downtown for dessert and to walk through Charleston Place hotel to look at the decorations and take photos.

Christmas morning was just our family at our house.  Everyone seemed pleased with their presents!  We traveled up to Virginia that afternoon to spend a couple of days with my family.

During our trip back home, our older daughter started with a stomach virus, which spread to my husband on Friday.  I had some flu-like symptoms on Thursday, but thankfully never got the stomach-bug part of it!  We’re actually not sick often, so hopefully we’ll be well for quite a while now!

The last week has been a nice mix of time at home and activities out of the house – like attending the wedding of our daughters’ piano teacher and a nice New Years’ Eve party.  I’m really enjoying the family time – and we have lots of it today!  Some freezing rain and snow moving through our area means we’ll all be together in the house 24/7!

Since our girls don’t go back to school until Monday, I’m still in holiday mode.  I haven’t thought too much about goals for the new year.

But I have set one goal so far, and it has to do with prayer.  The older I get, the more I realize the importance of prayer. I have so little control over mine and my families’ lives, yet God is in control of it all.

While I’ve read Psalm 143:1 many times before, it stood out to me when I came across it recently.  I’m now writing it at the top of my monthly prayer list each month.

“Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.” 

(I’m putting together a post about what I’m learning from that verse, and hope to publish it soon.)

So my one goal for 2018 right now is to read one book a month about prayer.  I’m hoping this will help me learn more about the spiritual discipline of prayer as well as keep me focused on it throughout the year.

Here’s a list of the books I hope to read.

1. Prayer 101:  Experiencing the Heart of God by Warren Wiersbe

2. Praying God’s Word by Beth Moore

3. E.M Bounds on Prayer

4. 31 Prayers for My Husband by Jennifer Smith

5. Prayer, the Great Adventure by Dr. David Jeremiah

6. When Mothers Pray by Cheri Fuller

7. A Call to Prayer by J.C. Ryle

8. The Prayer That Changes Everything by Stormie Omartian

9. Handle with Prayer by Charles Stanley

10. Anything:  The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul by Jennie Allen

11. Prayer:  Communing with God in Everything by A.W. Tozer

12. How to Pray by R.A. Torrey

There’s always room for growth in our prayer life, and I hope that I cover new ground in this area in 2018.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Corrie Ten Boom.

I definitely want prayer to be my steering wheel!

So do you have a favorite book on prayer?  Have you set any goals for this year?  I’d love to hear from you!

Related posts:
What Hannah Teaches Me About Prayer
5 Bible Verses to Encourage You in Your Prayer Life
A Prayer for Wisdom in Parenting My Children