January 17th. A new day. A new opportunity. It has never happened before. It is perfect. Flawless. New.
As I think about the things that I want 2011 to be about, my mind wonders to all the possibilities that this new year could bring. Anything could happen - it's kind of like a blank canvas. Endless possibilites with challenges and friends behind every door. Every thing I encounter throughout the next twelve months are choices of blessings or curses. Of course I will come face to face with heartbreak and obstacles, but I rest assured that every single circumstance and situtation will be beneficial. God is cool in that way - He uses all things to teach me.
2011 is a going to be a year of expecting a lot more from God. I talk a lot about spare change... spare change is worthless.
2010 taught me that when given the opportunity, people love to give. It taught me the importance of relationships. 2010 was the year I graduated from highschool and started college. It represents a great change in my life. The end of one chapter, and the beginning of a new one.
It started with bringing in the new year with my very best friends - banging pots and pans and yelling at the top of our lungs... Shortly after that Valentines Day rolled around - my dad was my valentine... I was the luckiest. Then my birthday snuck up on me and my seventeenth year of life was coming to an end.
Sidenote: Seventeen was my favorite year because I discovered my passion against human sex-trafficking and recognized the call on my life to reach the broken women of the world and to offer hope. To remind them that they were created to dance in white dresses. That there is more to life than darkness. That they were created to sing and dance and praise Jesus. That they are beautiful and perfect and flawless. That they are the daughters of the Most High King... and that they are forgiven. I think we all need that reminder. We all need to be saved by grace.
Anyway, I was excited for a new age because I was ready to put those passions to work. It was the best birthday - the celebration started the night before as my friend took me to Norman to worship with Hillsong United. The next morning was saturday, so I was blessed to spend the whole day on the back patio with my family and my best girlfriends, cooking out and laughing at each other. It was a preview of the year for me... I knew the Lord had already provided for me and He would continue to as the year progressed. May 14th was a day I'll always remember, as it was the day I graduated from the best highschool in the nation. I walked that stage proud as I'll ever be to call myself a Union Redskin. I got to listen to and vicariously live through my best friend as she gave the "Redskins for Life" speech - and she rocked it. After that day began my last summer before College. It was a summer of celebrating people. I was a nanny, so I exercised my love for children ;) and ended up falling in love with those kids. There is something about the faith of child... they taught me a lot about life. Whether it was "make-believe" tea parties or dancing to Hannah Montana - they found joy in the smallest things. In August I started my first semester of college! I went through Rush and found some of the best friends I could ever ask for. I acknowledged the fact that I had the free will of picking where I wanted to be - but discovered the plans of the Lord and watched them unfold as I began to connect with all new friends. He knew just what he was doing, and continues to pour blessings upon me. My cup overflows. I was given the opportunity to be a part of a musical with all of my new pledge sisters, and a whole new group of boys, whom I had never met. Little did I know they would become some of my best friends as well. Singing was never a talent that I was blessed with, but I had the time of my life pretending :) It seemed as if I was meeting new friends every time I turned around. As I look back on my Spanish class, a few people come to mind and I laugh. I'll never forget the new friends who loved to make jokes about "PTL"ing all the time."PTL for scrunchies. PTL for big curly hair. PTL for PTL" they would say. Whether they realize it or not, they weren't only speading the PTL, but they were Praising the Lord :) Nevertheless, we were instant friends! The year was wrapping up, and I spent the majority of the last few weeks of the semester in the Library. I've never been one for silence, so it was a challenge... but when you're not allowed to laugh it makes everything that much funnier. The night I got home I bathed in the peace of knowing I would be home for an entire month with no class or tests or studying to worry about, and soaked in the blessing of being amongst my parents, my sister, and one of my very best friends. The next night we made our way to Cains Ballroom to hang out with our friends Needtobreathe - and we sang our lungs out, exclaiming "this is my favorite one!" to just about every song they played. I loved spending Christmas with our family friends, who have become a whole lot more like family than friends... and just as it began, 2010 ended with the greatest friends laughing and bringin' in the new year. It was a year of joy and renewal. It was jam packed with creating new life-long friendships. I look back and smile on all the things God must have orchestrated for me, because I could have never created them on my own. I learned that I was a daughter of the King. That's all I am, and all I need to be. I was broken, softened, and refurbished. Sprinkles of grace scattered throughout the journey.
2011 is a new year. A new opportunity. It has never happened before. It is perfect. It is flawless. It is a year of expecting more from God. It is a year of asking, expecting, recieving, giving, planting, watering, reaping. It is a year of being spontaneous, of loving without having an agenda and of rocking out like my life depended on it. It's a year of seeing Jesus in everyone, and watching as the promises of God unfold in my life and in the lives around me. It's a year of freedom and liberty. 2011 is a year of growth; a year of stretching.
Here is your challenge:
May you be uncomfortable this year. May the Lord stretch you in big ways. May you find yourself on the edge of your seat, watching in awe at the wonders of our King. May you touch heaven with one hand, and earth with the other. May you always stand in the gap for people. May you extend grace to those who do not deserve it. May you experience the grace Jesus died for you to recieve. May you have the time of your life with the people you love. May you live the highest extreme of abundance. May you always be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer (Romans 12). May you live vulnerably, giving all that you are to be the living body of Christ.
2011 can be anything we want it to be. We have choices of blessings and curses before us. There are no limits. Choose blessings. Walk in abundance. Declare liberty over your days. Ask. Laugh. Be childlike in your faith. Wear love. Pray without ceasing. Look at every person as if they were Jesus. Sing. Run. Persevere.
May you encounter Jesus, and may you look back and see His sprinkles of grace.
