New Year Reflection

"With my God, I can scale a wall"Psalm 18:29

Scaling a wall is not an easy task. The psalmist that wrote this, had a lot of confidence in what he could do with God on his side. We should too! This year, the family chose new words to represent their year. I did not do good at keeping up with everyone's words, and I know I will not be doing that this year too. The main thing one word does is get you in a frame of mind. To have something to focus on through out the year. My word last year was peace. Peace  in my home, peace of mind, to cease worrying about things that are out of my control. I truly gave it my best and then some, I have to say choosing one word, for me, was very meaningful and helped me to focus on one thing. I can honestly say I found peace, and I found the secret to peace too. If you want to know more about my discoveries about peace, scroll down to one of my blogs about it. I mention it here only to testify that choosing one word was significant and meaningful for me.
I finally have my ONE WORD  for 2015: my word is ADVANCE. Advance means to press forward, to make up for lost time. When a line of solders move forward in a line, they are advancing, as they move forward, they have a plan to win a battle. They take it one moment at a time.The war is not won with one advancement, but with several.As I will be graduating from College in the Spring of 2015 (21 years later than originally planned), I will be advancing to that goal, and moving on to the next goal.(Where ever God leads me).

I thought my word was going to be trust. I was going to say I trust God to take me to new levels in all areas of life, finances, relationships and personal growth. But I realized that I do trust HIM. I completely trust God with all of my life, and I have for a long time. He has been more than faithful to me. 
What I need to do now is just advance in every area of my life, and press forward. I am not regressing and I am not plateauing; in 2015 I am ADVANCING.

Last year, I took some time to explain everyone's word and how it was meaningful to them. Realizing how deeply personal this is, after choosing one word last year, I recognize the vulnerable place it puts others in when they may or may  not want to share why they chose their word with the world. So,  this year, the other "one words; in our home will be kept anonymous. The other words for 2015 are Abundance, Achieve, Hopeful, and Win. The Hidalgo's have set their goals high! Why not?  After all,"With my God, I can scale a wall". Psalm 18:29 .. so this leads me to one more thing, as a soldier in God's army, We must have "marching orders". Many think that those marching orders are things like the Beatitudes, or the Great Commission, but I am here to tell you that in the Hidalgo home, our Marching orders come from
 Joel Chapter 2. You can read it here:

 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joel+2&version=MEV

Before a battle in Bible times, the shofar was blown. If you want to know more about the Shofar, just read this article.http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Elul/Shofar/shofar.html

The Shofar is also significant for Christians as well. We have been blessed at various times in our lives to be in situations where a real Shofar was blown, for a significant and real purpose.

The word shofar comes from a root word which means to "beautify". and indeed, that is what God does with each of us. "He makes all things beautiful in His time" Ecclesiasties 3:11. 

I am reminded of our family's theme song as I write this: If you could be a fly on a wall, You would be surprised to find every member of our house sing out jubilantly :

Blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain, blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm! 

SOUND THE ALARM!

They rush on the city, they run on the wall, great is the army that carries out his word. They rush on the city they run on the wall, great is the army that carries out his word. The LORD honors His voice, before His army, the LORD honors his voice, before His army!

Blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain, blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm! 

SOUND THE ALARM!

If you are interested, here is a link to listen to the song 

Blow the Trumpet in Zion:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYK1B7ung-s

The alarm is the sound of the shofar being blown as the people of God move  forward trusting him to do what only HE can do. That is what the Hidlago's are doing in 2015! 

Happy New Year!

The Hidalgo Family