A year in review. 2013. It seems to have gone by faster than any other year so far. I realize it's cliche, but it's still true. Even this year has gone by faster than I realized. I meant to get this post up new years eve, and here it is, four days later, January 3rd! Better late than never, I suppose. Following this post is 365 photos. 1 taken every day for the entire year of 2013. Okay, I cheated a few times, but overall, I was pretty proud of myself. Some of the images might be out of order because I waited so long to organize them. :) The past year came with indescribable joy, moments of deep sorrow, incomprehensible peace, and paralyzing fear. 2013 came and went but left me as a different person. To think of who I was 368 (I'm not good with math) days ago, and then now, it's amazing. God has been good the past year, as always. And through it all, I never walked alone. 2014 is finally here. At the stroke of midnight, a new year began, along with the hope of a fresh start, and a better year. But maybe y'all, like me, have already had a bad year. Maybe the happy flew right out of the New Year moments after it began. And you're praying it's not a sign of the months to come. Well, one thing I realized is, every day is a new day. Every moment is a new beginning. I can attribute many things to this past year. Some good while others, not so good. But that's all how you look at it. This year, among other things, I began writing in the form of a blog. 99 posts! If I would have realized that fact earlier, I would have made more of an effort to write one more before the new year. I was blessed with two new family members, Stella and Kaden. I ran 3 5k's! I met some great people and gained some amazing friends. I assisted in the painting of a mural, killed a deer, and was accepted into College. (More on that later.) God has been good. To top it all off, He answered a prayer than I had brought to Him for a decade. Among those highlights, were some low times. They're never as desirable as the good times, but maybe just as, if not more, necessary. The story, told by Wayne Rice, entitled Bad Luck, Good Luck sums it up. "An ancient Chinese story: A farmer had one old horse that he used for tilling his fields. One day the horse escaped into the hills and when all the farmer's neighbors heard about it, they sympathized with the old man over his bad luck. "Bad luck, good luck? Who knows?" said the farmer. A week later, the horse returned with a herd of wild horses from teh hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?" said the farmer. Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off it's back and broke his leg. Everyone agreed that this was very bad luck. Not the farmer, who replied, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and forced every able-bodied young man to go fight in the bloody war. When they saw that the farmer's son had a broken leg, they let him stay. Everyone was very happy at the farmer's good luck. "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?"" Life is a lot like that. Sometimes it seems like things are going well, and at other times, things are going badly. And we let those things dictate our feelings and our outlook on life. When things are going well, we're happy and we think God is with us. If they are going badly, we get discouraged and think that God must have abandoned us. We end up being tossed around by our circumstances. But the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4 that he had learned to be content, even happy, in all circumstances. He was happy when things were going bad, and he was happy when things were going well. That's the great thing about being part of God's family. We really don't have to worry in our circumstances, because no matter what, we have hope in Christ. Romans 8.28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Sometimes, what we perceive to be the worst day of our life, just might be the preparation for the best day of our life. Sometimes, building well means first, tearing down. At times, we may have to feel the pain of loss, or the sting of disappointment because we have our heart set on the wrong thing. At that point, the worst thing is actually the best! January February March April May June July August SeptemberOctoberNovember December
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