Another Blog Posting a Look Back

Today I have had the pleasure of reading some wonderful blogs from writers I enjoy.  Many shared a look back over 20105.  It was nice reading their perspectives.

I admire that.  I think that it is quite nice taking the time to see where you have been before you dive into the now. So why not throw my own little hat into the ring?

First of all, I was fairly silent during 2015 when it comes to the blog.  That is because during much of 2015 I was on air talking A LOT and I felt pretty exhausted by the time writing here came along.  And then there was this big change coming. The kind of change that makes you speachless. You want to talk about it.  You want to scream about it, BUT you have to be the bigger person.  

That change?  The ministry I had worked for for 8 years, the ministry that itself had been around for 20 years, was being sold.  How can a ministry be sold?  Well, when a ministry contains a lot of assets which enables it to serve and it is gifted to another non profit, THAT non profit can sell the new assets it received.  This is what happened.  So really the ministry wasn’t sold…every asset that the ministry used to serve was sold.   Kind of vauge, I know, but it totally rocked my world.  

This year was the hardest year I have faced in a long time, and as a former single mom who had to scrimp and save so hard I reused coffee filters and slept with hot water bottles to stay warm at night, I’ve known some hard edges.  This hard year charged my faith like never before.  And God turned everything around in an amazing way.  I still have my job at the same ministry, we have just changed positions on the dial, leadership and our outreach is a bit smaller than it was BUT the cool thing is God proved that He wants us right where we are and that is that…period.

So before I race into the new year, and boy am I ever ready to do just that, I am going to take five minutes to share a few things that 2015 has brought to my mind and heart.

I learned this year that God is in control and during those moments when you really need to feel Him there, He gives you a little something like a butterfly that leads your way home from the mailbox (seriously I saw more butterflies this year than I believe I have ever seen in my life).  Just like that, God shows you that He sees you.

I learned that sometimes no…more often than not…things are going to be out of y0ur control, but God’s purpose will stand.  

A pretty big news flash for me, it is really hard for me to pray in the car.  Whenever I get started, someone does something really lame or dangerous, and I kind of lose it.  It is great having a good window sticker on your car though, because it holds you accountable.  You might gripe a bit but you probably wont be letting any hand gestures fly, and that is a big start (especially if you learned to drive in the East coast like myself).

This year I discovered that sometimes God doesn’t remove the sandpaper people from your life nor does He necessarily change them. Sometimes it is all about you growing and getting beyond it.  Yeah, I know…kind of was hoping for something different there.

Lastly, I don’t call this a lesson yet, but this year I am not going to pick one word, make a resolution or grab a life verse.  I have written out where I would like to be next year at this time.  We’ll see how that goes.

OH…just because I haven’t picked out any special verse doesn’t mean I don’t have one to cling to.  I still rock solidly hold onto Deuteronomy 31:8 “It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Can’t get better than that.  🙂

Happy New Year!