Time to Blog...

So, I am really no good at this blogging thing....as far as keeping it going, updating, staying on top of it...etc. 

But, here I go again....

So much has happened in my life over the last year, I scarcely know how to process it all.  It feels more like 10 years have passed.  But, God NEVER ceases to amaze me....His plans ARE so much better than anything we could even dream of. To say that God has changed me in the past year is the understatement of....well, my lifetime...HA.

In the last year I have...

• quit working full time
• quit running a daycare I started and ran for four years
• started home schooling my children
• left the church Sammy and I married in, both of our older kids were saved in, and that we attended and served faithfully in for 10 years
• started a t-shirt business with my sister
• moved my sister-in-law and my niece back home that had been living with us for 18mths
• visited and joined a new church
• joined a CLG (it's not Sunday School anymore) and gained new family!!
• moved my best friend to Chattanooga
• lost some very close friends
• began serving at a homeless shelter
• began singing with the Praise Band of our new church
• went on a week long Mission trip with my two oldest children (no husband)
• went to Kids Camp with my two oldest children (again, no husband)
• went to New York

Sadly, I think I am leaving something important out...  It has been a world wind of a year...but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I have grown to know and love so much about my Savior and Heavenly Father that I NEVER would have learned or known if I had not had to endure some of these things. (believe me, I know how stubborn I am :) There have been moments when I have felt so alone, as if I had no-one to talk to, no one who could possibly understand, or who would even care to listen...when I heard that still small voice "I'm here".  And you know what, He was!! The first time I truly leaned on Him, alone, for emotional support and answers and as just a shoulder to cry on, was the best day of my life. God showed up for me that day, like He has every day that I have invited Him too.  That's the funny thing about our God and Savior, He wants to be invited.  He is such a gentleman.  He will not impose himself on anyone, and yet, He is always right there, just waiting for you to say, "Father, I need you". 

You know what else I learned?  He doesn't just want us to call on Him when we need something or when times are rough.  Like any friend, brother, or father, He wants to rejoice with us over every moment of our lives.  I don't think I ever truly "got" that until this year, what it truly means to call God my best friend.  It seemed so unattainable to me...I mean, He's God!! Right?  Wrong!!  It is so attainable...  You know what the hardest part about being best friends with God is?  Getting over yourself!  You have to let Him in...and for me, there were just parts I thought I could handle without Him.  Not big things, of course, those are easy to hand over.  No, it's the little things, the every day things.  Those are the things we tend to leave Him out of.  But not me, not anymore.  The more I let Him in, the more He opens my eyes to His truth, the real truth.  I feel a closeness to Him I did not know was possible and I am so thankful that He is so long-suffering and patient with me, holding my hand and guiding me every step of the way.

Has this year been hard?? OH YEAH!! But it has so been worth it, because I know I will never go back to who I was.  I will continue to push forward, because I want to KNOW HIM!!  I wont give up until I do.....

If not for anything else, this will help me remember where I was and where He has brought me and only He knows where we, me and Him, have yet to go!

Now is as good a time as any to let your guard down and let the One who created you in...He's right there...waiting