Decade Dance

Proverbs 16:20 “Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord”

This past week everyone has been posting their decade in review and when I thought about my own review I wanted to laugh. Ten years ago I was 10 and in fifth grade! I guess for me it is more interesting to look at the last two or maybe three years in review.

Let’s review:

2017: I turned 18 and became a legal adult – SCARY. I left high school behind me and with it the sport that consumed my life from age 10 on; basketball. I went out with a bang and was an all American, all region, all state and thought that it was the coolest thing ever. I cried a lot when I said goodbye to the game. As always, I worked a lot and was happy with that. I spent two weeks in Panama with 6 girls doing missions work and finally, I started college.

2018: I traveled a lot this year: Hawaii, Seattle, Northern Ireland, Vancouver three times, Moses Lake, WA, Florida a few times and finished the year back in Vancouver. I got into my program of choice and started the two year journey to becoming a Physical Therapist Assistant! I returned to Biggby coffee and fell in love with the job just like I did in high school. I met Jared and started dating him and had so much fun in that stage of life.

2019: Traveled to the west coast and Florida and had my hardest and busiest semesters. I became a Behavior Technician and now work with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and found that I really enjoy it. My family expanded and shrank and expanded again and we all just try to keep up at this point. At the end of this past year Jared and I decided to go our separate ways and we know that even though it’s hard, we will be okay too.

Two years ago, heading into 2018, I looked at my future and saw a whole lot of unknowns. Running into 2019 I looked at my future and saw a plan that I was fighting for.

Now, as I look to the New Year, and a new decade, I see hope.

I’ve learned this past year that nothing is for sure and that God’s plan is always greater than my own, even when I think I know best. I’ve learned to give my anxiety to Him and trust His will. (very imperfectly but I’m trying!) I’ve learned that when my gut is telling me to let go that I should trust it. I’ve learned that I don’t know nearly anything and am dearly thankful to be loved by a God who knows everything.

GOD KNOWS!

2019 was hard, I’ll be honest. I spent many months this year wracked with anxiety and stress and hurt and pain. I cried more than I ever though possible but through all of the tears I felt the Lord so close by my side and I knew deep down it was going to be okay. Life is hard and that’s the truth. And it’s not just hard for me, it’s hard for everyone, everywhere. I learned this year to look outside myself and try to see how others are struggling and to try and be there for them. It’s so easy to be absorbed in our own lives that we miss what’s happening all around us. I encourage each of you to try and look outside yourselves this year, look for others hurt and be there for them, like you wish they would for you. Come along side those who need help but are too hurt to ask for it. Learn to love, love hard, love long, love well.

I think the biggest thing I learned this year was to trust God and to trust those around me. It’s easy to say that we trust God, hypothetically. But to put that trust into action is the hard part. When that trust and faith in Him is tested, that’s when we really learn. A friend of mine once said “What is our faith if it is not tried?” This little saying has been in the back of my mind most of this year as I’ve struggled. The trying of our faith is for our betterment. It’s to drive us to our knees in prayer and to spend time pouring over His word to us, the Bible.

What is our faith if it is not tried?

I hope as each of us heads into this new year that we can look at the trials of our faiths and see them as God pushing us into His arms. I pray that we can all learn from our actions. Whether they were mistakes or wonderful choices, that we learn and grow from each one of them.

My verse for this year is John 14:27

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Thank you to each person who takes the time to read my thoughts, it means the world to me and I am so grateful!

xo

Ais