Last Day of 2016

This past year contained much of the same struggles as the years before.

Pain
Loneliness
Betrayal
Brokenness

But this year was a little different than the ones before it.  This year has brought changes, changes in me.

I have found a deeper well of faith, a securer confidence in who I am, and especially who I am in Christ.

I have found grace, grace that I did not know could exist, for those who have betrayed, wishing them well (and really meaning it) on their journey.

I have learned to walk with my head held high despite the pain.

I have learned of a Hope that never fails, a hope that looks for the other side of pain, the side that brings perspective.

I have learned I carry His peace,, despite the swirling chaos that can surround me.

I have learned that I possess a strength that is pretty remarkable.

I have learned that women are more potent than most of them know.

And as I turn the page to a new year and a new chapter, I will carry those lessons with me.

I will carry His peace as I encounter discord that pain and brokenness always bring with it. Because this peace is a peace that brings clarity to our broken hearts.

I will tightly hold onto a hope that is hard pressed to my being, as if it was sweetly branded into my soul where depsair once was.A hope that sustains ALL levels of devastation, knowing that GOD will redeem all things according to his purpose, even that despair.

I will draw from that well of faith that grows deeper with each use, knowing God does not fail.

I will walk in my innate femininity, not hiding it as a point of weakness, but fully embracing it as a source of strength, knowing that God himself has empowered and endorsed and approved those skills that He has weaved into to me, to lead and empower those around me.  And knowing that I am made in His image, as well.

I will walk in My God given identity as the "tip of the arrow".  And even as I am plunged into darkness, I will remember that the tip of the arrow is only plunged into darkness when it has hit its mark.

I will walk in confidence knowing that even as I fall, I will stand back up, knowing this confidence all comes from God's divine infusion of strength.

These things I carry with me, looking ahead to the adventure that this new chapter begins

2 Corinthians 4:7
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay toshow that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us."

Happy New year!