| ...faith...hope...love... ...but the greatest of these is Love  
(flowers from my wonderful department)
Another yeah has come and gone...my years don't start over on Jan. 1st, nope nope, mine is from birthday to birthday. So it's today, on my last day of being 20, that I look back over the past year, to see what I've learned, what I did well, what I could have done better. As I look, I see one main lesson that God has been trying to drill into me: Love. In fact, as I look back and think about it, I see God teaching first Faith, the Hope, and then Love. And showing me so clearly how Love IS the greatest. Lets take a brief look at the past 12 or so months...
(this will include what I did, where I went, major events...) Nov. 2006 What stands out is my trip to Scottsville, NY to visit the Brownies...fell in love with them, and with NY. I learned so much that month about how when you have love, you can hope. And that hope can be stronger then anything... Dec. 2006 Faith was a big lesson for me this month, working at Hobby Lobby, praying God would use me there. Also, I had to learn that Love is a choice. Not everyone is very loveable, and especially not all the time. But Love is choosing to love someone, even if you don't feel it. Why? Because God tells me to. Jan. 2007 What a month for lessons! And for experiences. On this year’s trip to Taiwan with CI...Faith was again brought up. Would I be faithful to my Savoir, even when I didn't see why? Even when I saw no results and no gain? How far, and how clearly would my actions show my Faith? Love also played a big roll. Even since I first went to Taiwan I've felt God give me overflowing love for that country. This month that love was challenged in new ways, and re-enforced through unexpected means. My God is faithful. Feb. 2007 A continuation of January for me. Again, in Taiwan--front lines if you will. My heart swells with a great Love as I think of that place... March 2007 Coming home...always a test of all three: Faith, Hope and Love. Figuring out my job situation, Sarah coming for a visit, beginning work in the International Department at IBLP Headquarters. A month filled with laughs and tears and God again showing me the importance of loving Him, and being content where He has placed me. Faith in his plan. Hope in the future He has for me, Love for the people He's placed around me. April-May 2007 Two months of seeking God's face. Seeking His will for me, and why He has me here. Two months of furiously trying to figure out my job here, and how to best perform it. Two months of God's faithfulness being shown to me, not only in His word and in my own life, but also in those around me. June 2007 Started off with a visit to NYC with Hannah and Luke. Again, Faith, Hope, and Love were very evident during this month. God had showed me He wanted me to go to China for a month of Character English camps. Faith: learning to trust that God's plan, though not seen, was still the best. And all I can do is take the next step. Having Faith in Him that if He gave me a new vision, that He would also change my heart. Hope: I was taken with a great new hope during this month, hope in an exciting new future, and hope in what God would do though me in China. Love: I spent the month laughing and seeing love as God's greatest gift to humans. I learned how love can send you flying, how it can give you hope for things you never dreamed before. I saw God's love for me in a new light. Yes, June was a month for love. July 2007    
China...I could write a book about that trip. I went excited, but a little afraid too, about what God had for me. What He taught me was life changing. Two words ring in my mind from that trip, two words that describe so well what that trip did inside me: "Pursue Love". I saw God take a group of people who were totally pursuing Him and His love, and use them to change lives. Use them to impact countless people. I learned that no matter what you may FEEL like, no matter what you may think yourself to be, or not to be, you ARE God's vessel, and He will use you beyond what you could ever ask or think. This month was where God really started to show be how vital His Love in us is, how vital Love is to everyone. How this world would be nothing with out it. Aug. 2007 This month held the end of my China trip, and my family vacation. Interspersed were one or two mad weeks of work... It was during this month that God began to reveal to me a different side of Love. He had spent the summer showing how wonderful, how amazing, even how fun Love can be. August changed things...just a little. My brother’s girlfriend came with us on our family vacation. I love her, I adore her...but I've never had to share him before. Not like that. It was difficult for me at first to see him so taken with her, when I had been his confidant before. It was hard to see them together, so happy with each other, and feel as if I was no longer necessary to either of them.
But, what is love? Is it holding on tightly to what we love, afraid to let it go? Is it resenting anything that comes between what we love and us? It was during those few weeks that God showed me a tougher side of Love, but one just as needed, and just as (or more) a part of life.
Letting go. It was hard to learn to let my brother go, to see him slowing moving away. But at the same time, I knew that anything I did to try and hold him would only push him further. So, with God's help, I did let him go. And like I told Karen, I could not be happier with who took him.  Fang kai shou...hen nan de ai. Sept-Oct. 2007 The last two months...many of the same lessons. Again, I see God teaching me more about "tough love". About letting go. About seeking my contentment only in Him and His love. These have been hard lessons for me, hard months of many tears and many times feeling that I was at the end of my rope. But God was always there to add and extension to it. I've seen again the importance of having God's Love in us, of pursuing His love with all that I am. Of loving as He first loved me, expecting nothing in return, completely, fully...with no restraint. You know, it IS better to have loved and lost, then to never love at all. I have never regretted loving, and neither will you. God's love to me is beyond amazing. And I really feel as tho this past year He has allowed me a small glimpse into what His Love is, and why He said it is the greatest. And you know, He was right. Love is the greatest. Thanks for a great year my friends, May the Love of Christ fill you to over-flowing as you seek Him with all that you are. Last year... 
This year...  
Nomes out. |
And if any of you want to enlighten me as to how to put it as my header, please tell me! 
