Ok, so I was going to start this before Christmas, but. . . . yeah . . . . "work on procrastination" is on the New Year's Resolution list.  :)

It's 10:00pm on the last day of the year-reflective and somewhat melancholy (a mood possibly fed by Josh Groban playing softly in the background).  My story is not unique.  Everyone has their own memories of 2006-some wildly joyous (such as my dear friend, now engaged for a full 24 hours), others tender (ie my sister and her husband who spend evenings flipping through baby books to determine the name of their first child), some painful, and still others peaceful and fulfilling.  If you are a girl, you could quite possibly experience the entire emotional gamut in a matter of hours, but that is another blog.

I work with our teens at church, and this morning we were discussing what God has revealed about Himself to us in 2006.  I thought I would write about that. . . .  ok, I need to write about that.  A year ago I was pursuing an education degree.  To be honest, I had no desire to go back to school for education, but it was a means to an end.  I had to have the degree to teach.  One day I was talking to Josie, and the topic of Speech Pathology came up.  I mentioned that I was interested in it, and (I don’t remember if it was physically or metaphorically, but . . .) Josie shook me by the shoulders and told me I needed to pursue it.  About a week later I completely switched gears, and now I am studying Speech Path, putting in grad school applications, and I have never been so excited about any career . . . which brings me to lesson number one about God.

1)  God is actively guiding my life.  He made me for a specific purpose-even my little quirks.  I had no idea that my interest in linguistics would ever become a meaningful part of my life.  I was even less aware that my tendency to think about how I pronounce words and sounds would be the foundation for my future career.  Little did I know that studying history in undergrad would help me look at issues with a global perspective (a vital element of physiology).  The more I study the field, the more I see how it fits me-I see that this is what God made me for.  It gives me new perspective on the verse in Psalm 139 that says “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

And what’s even better, is that God wouldn’t let me pursue education (as noble as that is) because that’s not what He made me for.  Now it has been an interesting road getting me through classes, through the crazy GRE, out of one job and waiting eagerly for another.  It has been painful.  Sometimes I have wondered, “Am I so think headed, that it took this much pain to get me to see this?”  But the thing is, God has allowed me to see the result (a testimony to His Grace-and lesson number two about God).

2)  God is full of Grace.  How many times over this year have I been granted something I know I didn’t deserve?  Take the GRE for example-all I have to say is “Divinely Directed Guessing.”  I literally laughed out loud when I saw my scores.  I hope they aren’t expecting me to be that smart in grad school!  In June I was very sick, and the amount of love that was poured out to me was unbelievable.  In particular, one of the older ladies in my church just called to quote scripture and tell me she was praying for me.  I had another lady who showed up in my room because she had heard the story wrong and thought it was my mother in the hospital.  She didn’t know me, but she was such a blessing to me because she understood my helplessness in a way others could not.  In October one of the teens in our youth group learned that I had a pretty difficult situation I was going through.  Even though he didn’t know what that situation was, he asked his friends at his school prayer meeting to pray for me.  The list could go on.  So many times I have seen how little I deserve the kindnesses I receive, and then I am blown away when someone approaches me to let me know that I have been a blessing in their life.  God pours out His Grace on us, and He uses people to distribute it . . . which brings me to lesson number three about God (I promise to make this the last one).

3)  God has given us a wonderful gift in the body of Christ.  Back to October . . . . I have a wonderful church family, and I am blessed to work with some pretty amazing teens.  So many times I am humbled by the fact that I am there to minister to them, and often they encourage me more than I do them.  Again, I was struggling with something and I didn’t want to go to my church-I didn’t want people (particularly the teens) to take an interest in me and ask me how I was doing.  I knew I couldn’t answer without crying, so I went to my brother’s church, only to be shocked that the message there was exactly what I needed to hear.  I was literally running from the encouragement of the body of Christ, but God wouldn’t let me get away. 

So, those are some of my major lessons on God from 2006.  God is good.  I cannot deny that.  He will remain good until the end of the ages, and that gives hope for 2007.

Psalm 139 has been my chapter this year.  I pray it is as hopeful to you as it has been to me.

139:1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.

7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! 20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain! 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!