Remembering

Greetings from the north, where upon waking up this morning, I was greeted with a winter wonderland as about 8 inches of snow fell overnight. I truly do love the snow - it is so completely beautiful and peaceful. It does make life interesting though. I had to bundle up in a puffy coat, scarf, gloves, hat and waterproof boots just to take my laundry down to the laundry room. But I did get to walk through the snow to get there, so that's fun!

I know I still owe some posts with pictures from when I was home for the holidays....I know you are all waiting anxiously for your pictures to appear so you can be famous! :) Have patience though, for they will get posted. Today, I want instead to share a few thoughts with you.

This coming Wednesday, January 14th, would have been my 3rd anniversary. Hard to believe, isn't it? That means that it's been 2 years since everything changed forever for me. I'm doing well, but I think that no matter how many years go by, I'll always remember a few dates in my life. It's not that those dates incapacitate me - they are, after all, only dates - but I think it's okay, even appropriate, to take time to remember and be reminded of God's faithfulness to us.

And God has indeed been faithful. Not only has He healed my heart in ways I never thought were possible, but He has given me so much more. When I think back over the last couple of years at all that I have been able to experience, the places I've seen, the people I have met, the beauty I live in....I simply cannot imagine my life without any of it. Obviously if things had been different, Jeff and I would have had our own adventures, but God has taken what was meant for evil and brought good from it. I will be eternally grateful for that.

I actually ran into Jeff - nowhere near where we live, in a mall crammed full of people - when I was home over the holidays. It was the first time I had seen him since the day he left, and it was a complete God-thing that it happened. Awkward and weird? Yes. But a final bit of healing for me as well. I have learned over the last couple of years that as much as we'd like to, we can't control another person. We can't force them to choose well. All we can do is trust the One who knows the number of our days before we are even born to carry us through any circumstance - good or bad - and to love us more than we can comprehend.

It is my desire to live this year in such a way that my very life is evidence of God's goodness and grace. I want to live in joyful expectation and not in fear - not so that what I want will happen, but that my heart will be open to no matter what God has in store for me, knowing that He is always enough.

Thank you for remembering with me. Thank you for your faithful prayers and your gracious support. And thank you for cheering me on as life continues to move forward. God is good.