Some Other Beginning’s End

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Lights, camera, action!  Suddenly I’m standing in the spot light, squinting at whatever is beyond the sudden brightness.  Fireworks pop in the darkness as I blink away tears from the light flooding in.

The heat of the light is like a sun-kiss.  And as I stand there, illuminated in the darkness, the truth is suddenly revealed.  The light is not there to burn me. It’s there to show me what I’ve been too stubborn to see all along.

The new year is upon us.  Tomorrow we’ll pop corks from champagne bottles, the bubbles flowing down into glasses. Children will shriek with laughter and glee as they throw streams of confetti, wave sparklers, or bang pots and pans at the dawn of a new day, a new year, a new hope.

This past January, I embarked on a journey; similar to what I have taken over the last few years.  Instead of trying and failing at keeping a New Year’s Resolution, I have prayerfully selected a word or phrase to live by for an entire year.

And 2014 was the year of intentional living.  Living, loving, working and blogging with intention and for the glory of God.

Though the road has proven to be challenging, it has also proven to be full of opportunities to experience the love and grace of a God that is unrelenting and pursuant no matter how far I sometimes want to run, in the opposite direction.

Recap & Year Review

• Living with Intention – My focus has shifted drastically in the last year.  It’s hard to believe that I’m really the same person that stepped into 2014.  My faith and relationship with Christ has witnessed such a transformation as well; all for the better!
• Loving with Intention – When I entered 2014, I confidently called myself a single Christian woman.  This status changed mid-way through the year.  It changed again just a few months back, leaving me with a few more scars and lessons learned than I ever expected to experience.  I gained a better understanding on what love is and what love is not.  As a result, I’ve begun to cherish relationships with those in my life a bit deeper due to the unwavering faithfulness and support they have provided me.
• Working with Intention – After working for the same company for four years, I had no idea that 2014 would bring me to a completely different, yet very familiar place.  I have been so blessed to have found a position at TSG, a place where speaking the name of Christ is not taboo and showing HIS love and grace is something that is done freely.
• Blogging with Intention – Today I found myself in a spotlight, taking me from the darkness and into the light where an obvious truth was set before me.  My blog has seen some major changes in 2014: a name/brand change, a move to WordPress and a change of focus – to that of hosting book studies, yet it never occurred to me of how faithful God has been in working in this circle of my life.

A few months back I chose to start hosting book studies, something that I didn’t think I was capable of doing.  I felt a tug on my heart to name this new venture, The Intentional Filling, since we all strive to fill the God-shaped whole within us.  It was not until today, the second-to-last day of this year of intentional living, that I realized that God has fulfilled this plea of my heart, with this new community.

[alert color=”black”]Starting January 18th, I am blessed to say, God is continuing this fulfillment as I host the Winter 2015 Book Study, where we’ll be focusing on Lysa TerKeurst’s book, The Best Yes.  I hope you’ll consider joining me as we dig deeper into what it means to fill our calendars with only the BEST yeses for 2015![/alert]

It’s easy to say that in this life we live that there are many ironies. But the more that I grow and the more that I learn about my Creator, the more I come to understand that there is no such thing as irony, only God.