2015 Review - A Year of Growing

Goodness! 2015 has been a big year! I finished my Junior year of high school and started my Senior year. I worked at Boy Scout camp. I slept in a tent most of the summer. I started courting. I learned a lot, cried a lot, laughed a lot, and grew a lot.

Here are some things I learned this year:

Saying "no" is okay. You would think that saying "no" would be easier, but unfortunately it is a developed skill. I don't know how it happened, but I found that I was okay with saying "no." Not just to things, but also people.

Bouncing off that, I also learned to value myself. When you start (it's always a process, never a destination) learning how to say "no" to things and people, you learn how to value yourself. You learn that being put down is not okay. You may not be able to stand up to that person, but you don't have to swallow all they have to say (again, this is a constant process). Learning to filter hurtful words is important and something I am really bad at. However, it is crucial to growth.

Another thing I learned is that God has a sense of humor. I worked at a BOY SCOUT CAMP! Like, whattttttt??? I still can't believe I did that. I swore to myself and everyone else that I wouldn't, but when God wants you to go somewhere, he is incredibly persistent even when you try and fight Him!

I also swore to anyone who would listen (people, rocks, trees, walls, etc.) that I wouldn't get a boyfriend this summer. Yes, I was working at the ideal place to have any guy of my choosing, but that simply wasn't why I was there! I had a job to do. So camp goes along, I get home, am relentlessly pursued by this guy, wrestle with God again (you would think that I would learn!) and wind up with a boyfriend.

There are times I swear that my life is more of a comedy act than anything else!

Courage and leaps of faith are yet another thing I learned a lot about this year. It takes a lot of courage and faith to go somewhere where you may be rejected and put down. It takes a lot of courage and faith to step into the unknown. It takes a lot of courage and faith to love people without expectations. And, on a humorous note, it takes a lot of courage and faith to sleep in a tent where dozens and dozens of large grasshoppers line the walls. That may have taken more courage that anything else!

Lastly, I would like to mention that I learned that in order to live boldly, courageously, hopefully, faithfully, lovingly, and understanding of my value, I have to live in Christ. Constantly and intentionally.

I heard an illustration recently of a bicycle wheel. When Christ is the center of the wheel, all the spokes on that wheel reflect Him. They run well because of who He is. When we try to make God one of the spokes and put ourselves or something else at the center of the wheel, things go wrong and plans fail. I would not be who or where I am now without Christ. Did I mess up often this year? Definitely. Did I put myself and other things at the center of that wheel? Yes. But we serve a very faithful and patient God who takes us back each and every time we fail.

May you be able to look back and see how God worked this past year as you look forward into this upcoming year!

A Different Kind Of Christmas Post: Come As You Are

I posted this blog post this time last year. I thought it still rang very true so I updated and tweaked it a bit and decided to repost it for this Christmas. Enjoy!

Christmas Eve dawns wet and dreary here, but it cannot dim the joy of Christmas in my heart.

However, among the lights, trees, family, and joy, tears flow and a dull ache is found in the hearts of many. Over the past month, I have become more and more aware of those who spend Christmas in pain. It is not that there is no joy (though for some, I know that is the case), but it is a joy that is overshadowed by pain. Like a silent shadow, it sometimes fades, but it is always present ... haunting the minds and hearts of many.

It reminds me of the birth of our Savior.

Christ was born into our world like any other baby; it was painful and tedious. He was born in the lowliest of places ... a stable for barn animals. There was little comfort to be found for Mary and Joseph that night.

Sometimes I feel like we sugar coat the pain of Christ's unusual birth and agonizing death and just skip to who He was and is. Not that that aspect is not important, but we cannot fully appreciate who Jesus is and what He has done until we understand the pain He went through in the process.

Hebrews 4:15 comes to mind: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with us..."

Christ knows our pain. Just think on that for a moment.

He felt the pain of being born into a world that did not know Him. He was crucified like a criminal on a cross after being beaten within an inch of His life. He was perfect, and yet, never did He receive any of the honor and respect that He deserved.

From birth to death, He was humble, loving, a ray of hope, our Savior and intercessor. He deserved to be treated like a King and yet, He never demanded that treatment and He was certainly never given it. He was treated like a lunatic, a liar, and worse ... a criminal.

Dear One, God understands your pain! He sees those silent tears. He sees the haunting memories. He sees the brokenhearted. He sees the lonely. He sees the distressed. He sees those who have regrets. He sees the abused. He sees those who are fighting uncertain battles. He sees those who need proof of who He is. He sees those who need a miracle. He sees those who are weary.

He sees YOU where you are at! Do not think for one second, that no one can understand your pain.

He understands.

Stop running! Stop trying to fight these battles alone! God's Son came on Christmas to show that He is with us.

Matthew 1:23 says, "Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a Son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'"

That word "us" means you and me.

As we go about this season of joy and cheer, we can find assurance in the fact that the beauty of Christ's birth can be found in the fact that the Savior of the world came to meet us where we are at, no matter where that may be.

1 Peter 5:7 says that we can "give all our worries and cares to the Lord because He cares for us."

We can bring Him our tears, our uncertainty, our pain, and our doubts.

He wants us as we are.

That is why He came and that is why we can take refuge in Him this Christmas and always.

 

Merry Christmas; I am praying for you!

"A Different Kind of Christmas"

Mark Schultz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImDIZ8GB1tg