Another year gone by...

Yesterday I officially stopped being a teenager. Twenty years ago yesterday, I joined this world (nearly 2 weeks late). It's weird... I feel like I'm getting so old. I mean, I know I'm not, but it's still a surreal feeling.

I was thinking about the past year when I was on the phone with Audrey at the end of my birthday. I can remember last year, when I turned nineteen. So much had already happened. I had just finished my first semester of college, I had started making new friends, and I was happy. Things changed dramatically as the year went on though. I transferred schools again. I fell pretty hard for a guy that broke my heart. I finally found some direction in my life. I made new friends and grew closer to old ones. I lost some friends, and gained some friends. I cried a lot. I laughed a lot. And I learned a lot.

I learned a lot about the character of God in this year. It seems like all the hard things I've gone through, all the trials and tribulations that have happened to me, have revealed a part of the character of God. When I transferred schools, God showed me His undying faithfulness, and the promise that He would never leave me or forsake me was renewed again. When I went through the six month ordeal with Ben, God showed me that He is the Lover of my soul, my Pursuer, my Romancer. When I found out my dad would be leaving again to go overseas, God showed me that He is my Provider and my Father.

While this year has been unbelievably hard and emotional, I think I can look back on nineteen as a very good year. I've been blessed with so many close friends who challenge me to be better than I think I can be, who love me unconditionally, and who I can serve with gladness. I've just been blessed with life.

Here's to anticipating another rollercoaster year... so many ups and downs, but thank God I'm never alone.