One Year Ago...
Last week, I went to watch a play at the high school and as I was sitting in the audience, I was thinking about how I had been in that exact same theater exactly a year ago watching a different play. One year had passed and I was hit by the enormity of all that has changed in those 365 days. Here are a few of the big changes...
As I sat in the audience last year, I had just finished my last day of school for the summer and I was exited to take a few months off before beginning another year with new students. I had a job secured for the coming fall, and that thought comforted me greatly. This year, I sat in the audience with no idea what this fall will hold for me. I don't have a job waiting for me, I don't have the security of knowing my classroom is still at the end of the hall just waiting for the presence of myself and my students. Last year, if someone had told me on that the coming year at Trinity would be my last, I would have laughed and thought them crazy. I had no idea that a year later, the job I had come to love and enjoy so much would be over.
A year ago, as I sat in the audience, I was in a friendship with a dear sister in Christ going through an extremely difficult and trying time in her life. There were times I felt I was riding the roller coaster of emotions with her as she tried to figure out what her life, recently diagnosed with a mental illness, would look like. There were days and weeks I was ready to write her off and let her continue down the self-destructive path she was on alone. I am so overjoyed to say that a year later, she is a completely different woman and I am SO glad I stuck with her. She is a wonderful friend and encourager in my life an I love her tons!
Along the lines of friendship...a year ago I was friends with a wonderful couple who lived a few hour away from me. I had met the guy in college and we kept in touch through e-mail and Facebook. Soon I was friends with his wife on FB and I have never met a more positive and optimistic person. She always had positive and kind words to say and gentle advice to give when things got hard. I finally got to meet her in person when I had lunch with the couple and their children last fall. What a beautiful family they are. Unfortunately, through naive mistakes on my part, the ties of that friendship are now severed. This loss has been a great void in my life and I miss their joyful presence in my life so much.
Another big happening in my life over the past year - grad school. I started a graduate program through Grand Canyon University in November and then dropped it in March. At first, I really enjoyed the challenge and believed it was God's plan for me. I would finish my degree in May of 2013, the original ending date of my job at Trinity, then my dad and I would move south to be closer to my brother and his family and a new adventure would begin. After a few months, I found myself frustrated with the course work and realized I had absolutely no interest in the content of my classes. I made the decision to drop out and I haven't regretted it for a moment since. As things changed at Trinity, I began to see that God had a different plan for me.
A year ago, I still had my cheerfully chubby cat Christopher. I got him while I was a junior in high school and as he was maturing in age, he had lost almost all of his eye sight and was in renal failure. One Friday morning I just got this sense, as if God was telling me it was time, that I needed to take him to the vet that afternoon and have him put down. That was a very hard afternoon and I still miss Christopher dearly. About a month later, I adopted a gray torti from the shelter named Lola. She was a super skinny little thing when I got her but like a friend said recently, "It looks like she wintered well!" She is very healthy and happy and has been a great addition to my little menagerie of animals. I still miss having a cat that will cuddle with me as both Calli and Lola are cuddlers only on their time, which is not very often, but I do love them. I also had a rabies scare with a little feral kitten I took in but thankfully, that all turned out well.
What a year it has been. What does the coming year hold for me? I have absolutely no idea but I am confident that God does and I am in His capable and loving hands. I heard it said once that living the life of faith is like watching a parade through a knot hole in a fence. We can only see a small part of each float as it passes by, while God is above and can see the entire parade from beginning to end. Some days I wish for a bigger knot hole but I trust that my God has it all in control.
As I sat in the audience last year, I had just finished my last day of school for the summer and I was exited to take a few months off before beginning another year with new students. I had a job secured for the coming fall, and that thought comforted me greatly. This year, I sat in the audience with no idea what this fall will hold for me. I don't have a job waiting for me, I don't have the security of knowing my classroom is still at the end of the hall just waiting for the presence of myself and my students. Last year, if someone had told me on that the coming year at Trinity would be my last, I would have laughed and thought them crazy. I had no idea that a year later, the job I had come to love and enjoy so much would be over.
A year ago, as I sat in the audience, I was in a friendship with a dear sister in Christ going through an extremely difficult and trying time in her life. There were times I felt I was riding the roller coaster of emotions with her as she tried to figure out what her life, recently diagnosed with a mental illness, would look like. There were days and weeks I was ready to write her off and let her continue down the self-destructive path she was on alone. I am so overjoyed to say that a year later, she is a completely different woman and I am SO glad I stuck with her. She is a wonderful friend and encourager in my life an I love her tons!
Along the lines of friendship...a year ago I was friends with a wonderful couple who lived a few hour away from me. I had met the guy in college and we kept in touch through e-mail and Facebook. Soon I was friends with his wife on FB and I have never met a more positive and optimistic person. She always had positive and kind words to say and gentle advice to give when things got hard. I finally got to meet her in person when I had lunch with the couple and their children last fall. What a beautiful family they are. Unfortunately, through naive mistakes on my part, the ties of that friendship are now severed. This loss has been a great void in my life and I miss their joyful presence in my life so much.
Another big happening in my life over the past year - grad school. I started a graduate program through Grand Canyon University in November and then dropped it in March. At first, I really enjoyed the challenge and believed it was God's plan for me. I would finish my degree in May of 2013, the original ending date of my job at Trinity, then my dad and I would move south to be closer to my brother and his family and a new adventure would begin. After a few months, I found myself frustrated with the course work and realized I had absolutely no interest in the content of my classes. I made the decision to drop out and I haven't regretted it for a moment since. As things changed at Trinity, I began to see that God had a different plan for me.
A year ago, I still had my cheerfully chubby cat Christopher. I got him while I was a junior in high school and as he was maturing in age, he had lost almost all of his eye sight and was in renal failure. One Friday morning I just got this sense, as if God was telling me it was time, that I needed to take him to the vet that afternoon and have him put down. That was a very hard afternoon and I still miss Christopher dearly. About a month later, I adopted a gray torti from the shelter named Lola. She was a super skinny little thing when I got her but like a friend said recently, "It looks like she wintered well!" She is very healthy and happy and has been a great addition to my little menagerie of animals. I still miss having a cat that will cuddle with me as both Calli and Lola are cuddlers only on their time, which is not very often, but I do love them. I also had a rabies scare with a little feral kitten I took in but thankfully, that all turned out well.
What a year it has been. What does the coming year hold for me? I have absolutely no idea but I am confident that God does and I am in His capable and loving hands. I heard it said once that living the life of faith is like watching a parade through a knot hole in a fence. We can only see a small part of each float as it passes by, while God is above and can see the entire parade from beginning to end. Some days I wish for a bigger knot hole but I trust that my God has it all in control.
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