2016 A Year to Remember

As this year approaches its close, I ponder on the ride. This year has been a year to remember! I can recall how many fears and questions were faced head on and conquered for myself by the grace of God. I was also surrounded by my beautiful faith community in a time when I thought I could walk alone, and I was able to once again appreciate the beauty of community with a new vigor. It is Love alone that makes this life worthwhile, that and Union with God..who is love, be an instrument of his Love.

God has also taught me many lessons. Some of them very painful. But from pain comes growth, kind of like working out! I am so grateful to God, for this life, for the people he has placed in my life and for the gift they have been to me in so many ways both known and unknown. As I truly believe the people in our paths have an affect on our lives farther into the future than one could ever imagine. It truly is beautiful, this gift of life and fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Prayer has been the foundation of this year for me, it has been the root of my strength,it has consumed my time. Through prayer I have found the ability to  persevere when my heart has ached in ways I thought would never cease, when I have doubted, worried and been ready to give up. Through prayer I have hungered to bless those dearest to me,  my heart has longed to bless others in the only way I know how, which is  through Love. To love those in my life unselfishly through abundant amounts of prayer! Even when I have felt unloved from those dearest to me. I’ve come to realize it takes great strength to Love those who hurt you, those who you long for their love. This pain has helped me to understand more than ever before, how Jesus thirsted for our Love. He was dying on a cross, suffering bitterly thirsting for you your love, for my love, and how painful it is to feel the rejection. Each time we choose sin we inflict this pain on our precious Lord, when we choose the world instead of him, when we reject him. Prayer has transformed how I love and how I look at life, it has transformed what I value and what I dedicate my time to.

Through God’s grace, my faith and prayer time I have been able to see how fleeting this life can be. The world just keeps getting busier and crazier. Its up to each of us, to choose wisely, how we invest our time and what we do to help others. I can never get over how much time I have wasted in the past on social media. If you think about it, does it really add to the person you are? Do you spend more time on social media, scrolling through the selfie created images of others at their best moments than you do in prayer. If you answered yes, I hope you have the discipline to take a step back and take a time out for prayer. There really is life beyond social media and any real friend in one’s life doesn’t need social media to keep in touch.

As the year approaches its close, I am grateful for my faith in God. For the abundant blessings he has given me, for the hope he has nurtured in my heart, for the people I love with all my heart, my family and my friends.

I am grateful for this season in my life, a season to serve him with abandon to grow in the gifts he has blessed me with and to become the woman he desires me to be.

We have a good God! All I know is he Loves you more than you could ever comprehend…I want to Love as he does, to love others unconditionally…In all ways,  in prayer, in time spent with those who the Lord desires in my life, with my family and my friends.

Thank you God for a year to remember and I look forward with much Love in my heart, joy, expectation and hope for many good things in the year to come!!!