2013

Howdy y'all! Happy New Year! I started out thinking that this post would be about some highlights of the past year, but I think I'll take a less conventional approach...

A lot can happen in a year. I can say that with the utmost certainty, but even though there has been many changes in 2013--some good and some bad--I am sure that they all happened in order to grow my heart.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
{James 1:2-4}

A year can bring a lot of change, but its up to you to decide if you will let the change effect you. People say all the time that everything happens for a reason, and that is true, but I'll be the first to admit that sometimes its really hard to actually believe that.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I get mad and tell God that a situation cannot have a silver lining, but of course it's kind of silly. I can't tell God anything! He knows what he's doing; he has a mysterious plan that no one knows, and I think that's what makes people mad. We want instant gratification; we want to know what is happening, when something is happening, and why.

As mad as I get sometimes I know that everything DOES happen for a reason. The twists and turns in my life only make me cling tighter to God and the people he has placed in my life.

My challenge for you is to be strong this new year. Take every challenge head on, and know that God is going to be there every step of the way.

I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
{Isaiah 46:4}