Happy New Year!
When a new year rolls around, it's become a kind of tradition for me to post my thoughts. I've been trying to figure out what I want to say about 2008, and I realized that so much has happened this year that it's hard to pick just one topic...so, I went with all of them, lol.
This has been an amazing year. Not to say that it was perfect or without problems, because it wasn't, but it really feels like the Lord has been moving in my life. This year, praise God, I was finally able to start doing some of the things I hadn't been able to do before because of my health, like starting to teach Sunday school again and being the assistant director for my church's youth drama group. And I've loved every second of it...even on those occasions when the kids were acting up, lol. (I think I have my "I'm the adult here" voice down now. *grins, shakes head*)
But that isn't all. So many other things happened. My friend Elena visited from Switzerland over the Fourth of July, and it was wonderful! I turned 21, and my grandmother visited for my birthday. I was blessed to be able to write two plays for the drama group, and got to see both of them performed. I made some amazing new friends online and at church. I wound up incredibly inspired and wrote more stories than I think I ever have before in my life. (Hopefully you'll be seeing more of the results of that soon. I have a few multi-chapter fics I'm still working on. I don't want to post them until I'm finished. :) ) I learned more about HTML code than I ever thought I would, and my fan fiction website, "Not Of This World," is, with God's help, turning out better than I ever could have imagined.
Looking back, I just can't help feeling incredibly grateful to the Lord. I never imagined this year turning out like it did, and I feel so absolutely blessed. Again, my year wasn't perfect, and it's certainly had its rough spots and its problems, but one thing I've been thinking about lately is that it really is both the good and the bad that shapes us, that makes us who we are. I know I would be a very different person without the problems I've faced. It reminds me of a saying I heard this year in Bible study that has stuck with me ever since: "When you're on your back, you have nowhere to look but up." That is so very true, and there have been a lot of times I found myself feeling very much like that. I'm determined, though, not to forget that even during those times that life feels like it's spinning out of control, God is right there with me, leading the way, and always, the future rests in His hands. As the Bible says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11.
That is the verse I plan to lean on in 2009. :)
I hope that you have a very happy new year!
May this next year bring with it wonderful opportunities. May God be with you in everything you do. May He bless you with abundance, peace, and joy, and may He comfort and protect you when times are hard.
Take care!
-Laughter
This has been an amazing year. Not to say that it was perfect or without problems, because it wasn't, but it really feels like the Lord has been moving in my life. This year, praise God, I was finally able to start doing some of the things I hadn't been able to do before because of my health, like starting to teach Sunday school again and being the assistant director for my church's youth drama group. And I've loved every second of it...even on those occasions when the kids were acting up, lol. (I think I have my "I'm the adult here" voice down now. *grins, shakes head*)
But that isn't all. So many other things happened. My friend Elena visited from Switzerland over the Fourth of July, and it was wonderful! I turned 21, and my grandmother visited for my birthday. I was blessed to be able to write two plays for the drama group, and got to see both of them performed. I made some amazing new friends online and at church. I wound up incredibly inspired and wrote more stories than I think I ever have before in my life. (Hopefully you'll be seeing more of the results of that soon. I have a few multi-chapter fics I'm still working on. I don't want to post them until I'm finished. :) ) I learned more about HTML code than I ever thought I would, and my fan fiction website, "Not Of This World," is, with God's help, turning out better than I ever could have imagined.
Looking back, I just can't help feeling incredibly grateful to the Lord. I never imagined this year turning out like it did, and I feel so absolutely blessed. Again, my year wasn't perfect, and it's certainly had its rough spots and its problems, but one thing I've been thinking about lately is that it really is both the good and the bad that shapes us, that makes us who we are. I know I would be a very different person without the problems I've faced. It reminds me of a saying I heard this year in Bible study that has stuck with me ever since: "When you're on your back, you have nowhere to look but up." That is so very true, and there have been a lot of times I found myself feeling very much like that. I'm determined, though, not to forget that even during those times that life feels like it's spinning out of control, God is right there with me, leading the way, and always, the future rests in His hands. As the Bible says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11.
That is the verse I plan to lean on in 2009. :)
I hope that you have a very happy new year!
May this next year bring with it wonderful opportunities. May God be with you in everything you do. May He bless you with abundance, peace, and joy, and may He comfort and protect you when times are hard.
Take care!
-Laughter