Goodbye 2013.

This has been a year and I can't think I'd ever like to repeat it. Ever. The lessons I have learned have been hard-won and I pray the lessons I am continuing to learn will stay with me this time and I'll move forward holding His hand. It's the only way. This year I have worn pride and anger as a big shoe on the foot stuck in my mouth and suffocating my heart. It's ugly but until you see it, God can't heal it. This year my heart has hurt and been broken in a million ways, not the least of which was losing my Mom. This year I have been humbled greatly by my own icky human-ness and stand in a whole new understanding of the verse, "I do the things I should not do." Ugh. I'll just stop here and say that, yep, 2013 has been a very rough year in ways I never imagined possible. Rather like this beautiful photo, just struggling to make it through what has felt like a blizzard.

 

Thankfully, feelings aren't always fact. And, 2013 has had it's great moments because God is always good, in spite of me. He sold our house in Watauga and what an awesome relief. He also knew I'd need to be there, where my "people" are, for emotional support those late spring weekends we were fixing that house. God gave us an amazing new home, which I love and walk around so surprised and excited it is mine. My sister is only a 4 hour drive from said home instead of an eight hour plane ride. Whoop! We have an orange tree in the back yard and the oranges are sweet and juicy and so yum! We live in a neighborhood that is beautiful because God knew how much I needed to be around trees and there are tons of them. We think we have finally landed in a church home we can call our own. Our girls are happy there and they have adult classes and those things are a BONUS! :) Brian is a CSP now, meaning Certified Safety Professional, not an easy certification to achieve. So proud of him! We know our area and we are becoming comfortable with this new "promised land." We aren't looking back at Egypt anymore! And, as a punctuation mark on our freedom walking into 2014, God sold the RV just as the year ended. Praise His Holy name!

 

So, good bye 2013 and hello 2014! Nice to meet you and all the fun and adventure God has planned for us!

The Lord says, “Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don’t you see it? I will make a road in the desert and rivers in the dry land.   Isaiah 43:18-19 (NCV)