Redeeming F Words

On June 11, I turned FORTY. I'm told forty is the new thirty. I hope not. I don't want to be thirty again - don't want to relive that decade. It was very happy in so many ways but it was also painful. God did a lot of redemptive restoration in my life and relationships in my thirties and while I am grateful for it, I don't want to go back. I want to face my forties living FREELY out of the redemption He has worked in my life. God gave me 3 more F words as a vision for what He desires from me in the next half of my life...

FOCUS - I am spontaneous and FUN. That is what my orderly, schedule-oriented (read uptight) friends call me. I do not like keeping to a rigid schedule. What if I feel like doing the 3:15 activity at 10:30? Some days I just want a nap to come right after breakfast. But, as I mature, God is changing me and showing me that while spontaneity can be fun at times, it does not produce the righteous life that God desires. If I am going to train my mind and heart and body to glorify God in all I do, I must be focused. I must have a plan. Which leads me to...

FRUITFUL - I am a very busy person. My calendar gets booked weeks in advance and I am not a world-class surgeon...I am a wife and mother. My business does not always equate with fruitfulness though. I can run around all week feeling frazzled and busy with seemingly good things but not the right things - the activities that are bearing fruit in myself and my family. (Note: CJ Mahaney writes a very challenging blog series on this topic at his website...view from the cheap seats) God wants my time to be allotted to those things that will bear fruit for His kingdom - not my kingdom. Which leads me to choice F word #3...

FAITHFUL - God wants my life to be characterized by faithfulness.

Psalm 37:3Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Be a friend to faithfulness? Huh? Good-time Jenny doesn't really want to have to be a loyal friend to faithfulness...that requires effort and commitment on my part. And that is exactly what God is asking of me. He is asking me to be faithful to His Truth, His saving work on the cross for me and the redemption He has worked in me. For the next 40 years of my life, He is asking for my whole heart - a heart faithfully committed to Him. And I will give it because He is faithful and He will care for me in ways far more glorious than I could imagine.

Sure, Jennifer Garner got to be thirty, flirty and thriving but I'd much rather follow Jesus and RECOGNIZE Him in the vision He gave to me for my forties: Focused, Fruitful and Faithful