Looking Back

This week has caused me to think over my past year and what has happened and what I've learned. It was this week a year ago when my life started making some drastic changes. It was this week last year when God started me on a journey of learning more intimately about who He is and what that means about who I am. My life has never ever been the same since. I have never had a year like this in my entire life and I don't think I ever will again. This was a year of a lot of firsts for me.

What was so special about this week? This was the week that I traveled somewhere without my family. I stepped out of my little world into another world. I went on a very short mission's trip. It wasn't out of the country. It was serving families that have a family member that have a disability of some kind. God taught me so much during that short week. He taught me a about His love and how to share that love with people around me. Since this was the first time I had ever been away from my family, I was sure this was the last time I was going to for 2010. Wrong!

Two months later I left my family again for another adventure that is EXCEL. This was a life-changing experience for me. It was an 8-week long program where I got to focus on my relationship with God. It was a time of learning so many things from amazing godly people. I learned a whole ton about God through some of His names we studied and so much more. I can't even tell all I learned, it was a wonderful experience that I absolutely loved. After coming home from EXCEL I wanted to go the next program after it which is called Advanced EXCEL. I didn't think I'd be able to go since I'd already been gone twice in one year when I had never done that before.

Wrong again. I did go to Advanced EXCEL and learned even more than at EXCEL. God became more real and personal. I learned who I was in Christ. I broke boxes that I had put God and myself in. I was stretched and pushed outside of my comfort zone. I things I had never done before. I learned a lot of lessons, some the easy way and some were harder to learn, while some I am still in the process of learning. I developed skills and found new skills I didn't know I had. I realized that I love to work with young ladies and that I want to disciple them. I became friends with like-minded young ladies. I learned this and so much more. I just graduated from Advanced EXCEL two weeks ago. Last Saturday I graduated from High School.

This has been a year that I will never, never forget. The things I have done and the lesson I have learned will be with me for the rest of my life. I will never be the same person. God has taught me so much. I am so thankful for the year. I wonder what the rest of this year will hold. But whatever it is, it is going be beyond what I can imagine because my God doesn't think the way I do. I can trust Him with my future.