Year-End Inventory!

"Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD." Lamentations 3:40

Peter Drucker once said, “What gets measured gets managed.” So, before stepping into a new year, do a thorough heart audit — naming blessings, confessing breakages, and setting Spirit-led reorder points for growth. Just as Nehemiah inspected Jerusalem’s walls by night, we too must quietly examine where our defenses stand strong and where the gates are burned, then make a plan to rebuild.

Inventory Framework as follows;

1) Receiving Log: Gratitude Count

• List this year’s “incoming” graces: answered prayers, unexpected help, lessons learned.

• Name ordinary mercies: breath, friends, Scripture, daily bread.

• Practice: Write 10 blessings, then add why each mattered.

• Remember, you must “Count blessings, not just boxes.”

2) Damage Report: Honest Confession

• Ask: Where are the breaches? What temptations slipped through? What habits corroded joy?

• Pray Psalm 139: "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Sit in silence for 5 minutes; write what surfaces.

• Confess specifically; receive forgiveness fully.

3) Obsolete Stock: Clear Out

• Identify what to retire: resentment, hurry, comparison, cynicism, and secret compromises.

• Decide on a disposal method: repentance, boundaries, accountability, or replacing with better habits.

• Don't forget that “Holiness grows in audited hearts.”

4) Reorder Levels: Plan Rhythms, Not Resolutions

• Set minimums that trigger action:

• Scripture: When I miss 2 days, I pause and reset with one psalm aloud.

• Prayer: 10 minutes of quiet daily; a weekly hour with no phone.

• Community: Commit to a small group and one honest check-in each week.

• Service: One recurring act of love each month.

• Keep goals small, sustainable, and trackable.

5) Quality Control: Measure What Matters

• Galatians 6:4: Examine your own work. Use fruit-of-the-Spirit metrics:

• Am I becoming more loving, patient, and gentle?

• Is joy steady or circumstantial?

• Is self-control expanding into new areas?

• Monthly review: What practices help? What hinders?

6) Security Check: Strengthen the Gates

• Nehemiah named each gate; you name key entry points:

• Eyes (media), Ears (voices), Time (calendar), Money (budget).

• Set guardrails: screen limits, wise inputs, Sabbath, and a giving plan.

7) Team Inventory: Don’t Count Alone

• Invite a trusted friend/mentor to speak into three areas: character, calling, and pace.

• Share your plan; ask for prayer and periodic check-ins.

• Above all, invite God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Questions for Reflection

• Where did God meet me this year in ways I didn’t expect?

• What repeated struggle signals a structural issue, not just a bad week?

• What one practice, if done consistently, would change the most?

• Who can walk with me as I rebuild a weak section?

Simple Tools

• One-page audit: Blessings, Breakages, Boundaries, Build Plan.

• Weekly 15-minute review: What gave life? What drained it? What will I adjust?

• Gratitude jar or note in phone; confession prompt on calendar; monthly solitude hour.

• Remember Galatians 6:4: "Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else."

Prayer

Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and reveal what needs to go and what must grow. Thank you for every mercy this year. Give me courage to clear out what hinders and wisdom to set faithful rhythms. Rebuild my walls by your Spirit, that I may walk in holiness and love. Lead me in the way everlasting. In Jesus' name. Amen.