Day One - Through the Holidays
THE TEMPTATION OF BUSYNESS
By Sophia Tucker
Welcome to Day One of this 21 Day Challenge, I am excited to partner with you over the next few weeks to develop a renewed mind about the holidays. There will be a post daily here that goes along with the posts in the Facebook group Tapestry of Beauty. But come here for some free printables to help you along.
Making time for fellowship with the Lord is very important everyday but I find that it is so important for this to happen when we enter into busy seasons like the holiday's. We often start these holiday challenges/studies with excitement and confidence that THIS will be the time we will succeed. Unfortunatly for some of us this can be short-lived and by Christmas Day we say "what happened?"
This is the time that we want to be on guard of the temptation of busyness to creep in and distract us from standing strong with the Lord. This is not an easy task but we can have confidence that in Christ we can do all things through Him that strengthens us. Phillipians 4:13
We need to take one day at a time! Make this committment to start with just today.
We need His strength that abides and lives through us to stand strong during the holiday's. This will come from actually spending time with Him. So we want to start from now ensuring that are hearts are set right on Him.
Our Father promises to strengthen us and uphold us with His right hand. If we get into panic and worry with thoughts of "I must renew my mind everyday without fail", "I have to keep within my boundaries or its over" or " I have to lose 25 lbs by January" then these thoughts can also be a distraction from keeping us on track.
What lies do you typically believe when you think about spending time with Jesus during the holidays. Some of these can be:
"Well I just dont have the time with all the shopping, cooking and things I need to do",
"I will get around to renewing my mind today when I get my to do list done",
"I am so tired after all the work I have had to do, I will start my goals in January"
Some tips are:
1. Turn our eyes onto Jesus Number 1!
Commit to non-negotiable time with Him though the holidays and beyond. He is the most important priority_& without this nothing else will work.
2. Focus on what He has for you today.
Take your mind off all the things that need to be done the next day or even next month. Know that those will all take care of themselves but focus on just what He has for you today. Try listening to Him and writing out just 1 thing that the Lord wants you to focus on each day.
3. Know that what you do today will pay great dividends for tomorrow!
When you focus on Jesus and spending time with Him today trust that the holiday's are going to be great! Fantastic! Everything else is going to work out. Its like making a down payment on peace for the days ahead.
Renewing the Mind Challenge - SOAP-F
So lets start with renewing our mind using the SOAP method today. We are going to set our minds on the importance of renewing the mind and align our thoughts to Jesus. We are using a method called S.O.A.P - F which is a new way to superboost the SOAP method.
Here is the link to show you how to complete a SOAP-F as well as a FREE Printable:
https://www.sophiatucker.com/post/5-steps-to-study-the-word-be-transformed-free-printables
Read: Matthew 6:27, Galatians 6:8-9, Proverbs 4:25, Phillipians 4: 13; Colossians 3:2-3
SOAP: Luke 10:38-42
Share your SOAP below by posting your notes or just write what you believe about the SOAP verse.