December 31, 2013

2013

Seems like everyone is writing little blurbs about this last year and posting them all over the web. Reviewing the past 365 days and remembering most memorable happenings therin. A part of me (the rebel side of me that wants to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing) rolls my eyes. After all, January 1st is just another day. Other than needing to get used to signing 2014 on my checks, not much changes with the beginning of another year. It’s just another day.

But something in me needs to pause. I can almost physically feel it. I feel the need to stop long enough to take a breath. To stand still and take a look around me, to see where I am, where I’ve been and who’s with me. Like if I don’t, I forget all of the important things that happened. In the Bible, God continually told the Israelites to remember. Remember where you’ve been, remember whose you are, and remember what He’s done. Turns out God knew what He was talking about with that. Amazing, I know. And since remembering all of the major details of a whole lifetime can be difficult, particularly the older I get, chunking it down to a year seems a little more manageable.

This year a lifelong dream came true. I got married to the love of my life. Woah! That’s crazy! How many New Years have I hoped and prayed that this would be the year I would meet my future husband? A lot. But it happened this year. I got married and a man moved in with me. And as I say that all non-challant-like it’s easy to just think that’s cool and move on. But wait a minute. If I really pause and think about the gravity of that, not only in how much change that brings, but considering the years my heart ached and cried out for that very thing, I feel myself starting to tear up. This was not just a cool event, but an answer to a lifelong prayer. God did that. He made that happen. When I leave Him out of the equation it’s the story of two people meeting and falling in love and getting married. But when I put Him back in I remember the truth. It’s the story of a girl who prayed and begged and pleaded and cried out to God, thinking He didn’t hear or didn’t care. And it’s the story of a boy a few cities over who was also crying to that same God about how 39 years alone was long enough. And God, through His wisdom, brought that boy and that girl together at just the right time. He gave us as gifts to each other so that we can be gifts to those around us. He heard our cries. He was listening. Remember that.

Getting married seems to be the event of 2013 that overshadows all the rest for me, as it probably should. But along with getting married comes all sorts of inevitable things: getting used to sharing your space with a boy, deciding who will do what chores, and arguments over the way one of you said something (it’s not what you said but how you said it!). With it also came with never having to go to bed alone and having someone to share meals with. Someone to hug me in the kitchen and cuddle with on the couch while watching The Walking Dead. *Side note… never did I think I would watch shows like Walking Dead or Dexter. Living with a boy has changed that for sure! Although I got him into The Voice.* More than anything, I’m not alone. But I never was really. Remember that.

So as we go into another year, I put a cap on this one so I can hold all of the year’s memories and carry them with me into the next. I will try to remember that God hears my cries. As my heart is crying out for people who are hurting or praying for something specific, I can be sure that God is listening and faithful to answer in His timing, not mine. And I can know I’m not alone. There is One who is a constant comfort and peace.

I wonder what things He will ask me to remember next year? What lessons are you remembering from this year?

Our wedding 17

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