Who's Ready for 2017?

Tomorrow starts a new year and it's the perfect opportunity to reflect on 2016 and everything that happened. There were some wins and there were some losses, but overall it was a year of learning through transition that God is continuing to use to teach me how to be more like Jesus. 

2016 brought me to my first apartment. I waited, dreamed, and longed for my own place and was thrilled to see it come to fruition. 

2016 also brought me to my first job as a worship leader. This was something I prayed for diligently and went through a slew of various hardships before God opened the right door. I'm very thankful that God protected me for where He has placed me now. He has been faithful all along and put me exactly where He planned for me to be since the beginning of time. 

2016 also was the end of my graduate schooling. I truly wondered if grad school was ever going to end at times because the last few stages were so grueling. Yet I am so thankful that the Lord carried me through the hard times and saw me to the end of such a long, and challenging process. 

A Few Memories from 2016: 

First Ski trip to Colorado! 

My sister got married! 

I visited my favorite city!

I started nannying this little guy! 

Had my last trip to TN for a while. 

A few lessons from 2016:

Jesus is never going to leave me. 

Though this isn't the first time I've learned this lesson, 2016 brought me to some unexpected challenges that reiterated this lesson for me. Even though I stumble and fall into sin and temptation, the Lord continues to hold me and teach me that there is nothing that I can do to be good enough. At the end of my life, the only thing that is going to matter is that I trust in Jesus to sustain me because HE and He alone is perfect and faithful. 

God's way is always better. 

As I said, there was a time when finding the right job was a very difficult process and rejection was something I had to get comfortable with. God intervened in my plans in what seemed like the most confusing and inconvenient way, yet He always knew that His way was better and most glorifying to Him. 

There is always room to grow. 

Though I am very thankful to finally come to the end of my schooling and blessed by all that it taught me, one takeaway that I did get from it is that despite my degree, there is no shortage of things to learn in life. We must stay committed to learning and to growth that humility brings. We will not have arrived until we get to eternity, and until then, there are is always room to grow. 

As for 2017, I still have prayers that I hope to see God answer. I still have things I want to do. I pray that this is a year of restoration where miracles and dreams are fulfilled in the best way. God is still on the move, in this community and in my life personally, and I have full confidence that He will do the impossible and finish what He started. 

God bless everyone in the new year! Happy 2017!