My Year In A Nutshell

I can't believe it is already December 30!  After today there is only one more day of 2010!  This year has flown by way too fast! 

Last week I sat down to write a summary of my year for my parent's Christmas letter and it caused me to take time to reflect on everything my year has held.  I find it hard to believe where I was a year ago compared to where I am today.  A lot has changed...physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.  I'm not the same person I was last year, which is a good thing! 

Looking back on where I was last year, there was a quote from a song by Sanctus Real that really spoke to me, and at this time last year I made it "my" quote for 2010.  Little did I know how many times that quote would come back this year...

"Whatever You're doing inside of me, it feels like chaos, but somehow there's peace. Though it's hard to surrender to what I cannot see, I'm giving into something heavenly..."

As I have gone through this year I have seen glimpses of God doing "something heavenly!"  Even in the chaos and pain, God has been right there by my side showing me that nothing is impossible for Him! 

The year started off in an interesting way where God answered a prayer I didn't know would ever be answered!  During that time I was also beginning my second semester of Tourism Management.  In the second semester of school I started to get to know some of my classmates better and eventually became good friends with one of them!  (And I get to see her soon!  I'm so excited!!! :) 

At the end of the semester my church had a Women's Conference where Lisa Bevere came and spoke!  It was a great conference, but little did I know how the title of "Moving Forward" was going to directly impact me and my family.  Shortly after the conference was over I found out my dad was offered a job somewhere I least expected...the province of my birth.  I felt at peace about it at the beginning.  I knew that because of things that were going on in our church that we needed this change in order to "move forward" in our lives.  Although I felt at peace about it at first, and knew if the answer was yes for my parents that I would be joining them, the hardship of actually picking up and leaving would be really tough to deal with. 

In June the house went up for sale, and I found myself dreading the fall.  The summer months went by way too fast, but also way too slow at the same time.  The thought of leaving consumed my mind, and I tried to take in every moment that I had left in my beautiful city. 

September brought many changes for me schooling wise.  I completely changed my focus from Tourism to Nursing and I am currently "attempting" to do science classes through a distance university...it's proven to be much harder and more time consuming than I expected! 

September also brought other changes as well.  I was adjusting to my new city, to my new church, and to my new life.  I met a few people in September, but I still really missed BC and the life I had there.  BUT, once October hit things began to change, and change fast!  I started to get to know my new friends better.  I started to feel more at home.  I started to realize that despite the fear I had of getting to know new friends, and potentially forgetting the old, that God really was working, and that He has a plan for me.  I like what Pastor Chris said to me on Sunday as he was praying for me:  God has called me here.  It's not just my parent's calling...it's also my calling.  God has a plan for me here.  It took a long time to realize, but I think I'm finally seeing it now! 

I've written about it before, and I'm sure I'll write about it many times in the future, but living here has been a blessing.  (I feel like a broken record!  Haha!)  You see, all my life I had a prayer for friends.  Real, true friends.  Not that I didn't have that in BC, but they were very few and far between.  I knew LOTS of people, but those people didn't really know me, and many of them didn't seem like they wanted to.  Sometimes they would acknowledge me and my efforts to get to know them, but other times they would ignore me.  It was usually the latter.  Maybe it was just my perception, but that's how I felt.  And it hurt, lots.  So, I had a prayer that God would bring me a friend...a friend on the same page as me.  A friend I could relate with.  A friend I could laugh with, and cry with.  A friend who I know I'll still be close friends with when I'm 90...  At times in my life I wasn't sure if my prayer would ever be answered, because it was taking SO long!  Yet, here I find myself literally overwhelmed with the welcome I have recieved here in my new home.  Already I have met more people I call friends than I could have ever imagined!  And I trust these friends are those "forever friends" I was praying for!  I am amazed! 

The end of the song I wrote about at the beginning of this post goes like this, "Whatever You're doing inside of me, it feels like chaos, but now I can see.  This is something bigger than me, larger than life, something heavenly.  Something heavenly." 

So maybe this year has been full of chaos and wondering if God really has a plan in everything that's gone on, but I can finally see that He is doing something.  I can't always see it, but He's always working.  Even in the midst of change, chaos, pain, joy, and calm, He is there.  Like another song by Matt Redman goes "Oh no You never let go, through the calm and through the storm.  Oh no You never let go, in every high and every low.  Oh no You never let go.  Lord You never let go of me."

So that's been my year...in a nutshell, with a little bit of rambling. 

Have a wonderful New Years, and may the Lord abundantly bless you in 2011!