"what would you do for a klondike bar?"

i leave for school in less than two days...and, let me tell ya, i am READY to be back there. i know it could be stressful, if i allow it to...but that's the beautiful thing about trusting in the Lord. i don't HAVE to let anxiety get the best of me. that's a lesson that i've had to learn, and sometimes relearn, a lot over the years. but i know that i've grown cause...i don't have to process it quite as much, generally. if i pull a stupid, and let myself get overstressed, i can recognize the signs quicker. and i know exactly where i need to turn--it's just a matter of doing it. so this semester: how's about applying what i've learned, eh?

it's struck me recently how this year, and in years past as well, the Lord has pressed upon my heart the concept of JOY. i can look back and see how it's shaped me. i can see the kind of person i was when i didn't choose joy, and the kind of person i was when i did. two very different people...i very much like the latter.

He's taught me about faithfulness...about His faithfulness to me, and about what it means to be faithful in my own life.

there are so many things, big and small, that the Lord has taught me. well, really, they're all big to me. and in the end, i have also learned to be thankful. thankful for what He has taught me, what He has given me, what He has brought me through. i am SO thankful for all the things He has brought me through. this year more than most. i look back onto 2006 and say a joyful farewell. joyful because of all the great things that happened, all the ways i have grown. and joyful, too, to leave behind all the not so delightful things i and my loved ones endured.

i am glad the year is new, because i find that i myself am a new person along with it. the Lord certainly knew what He was doing. and still does, i daresay. He's still bringing me through, and teaching me, and showing me His beauty. and praise Him for that! i have been so blessed.

i guess that's really what i want to leave you with. through everything, my gracious Lord has never failed to reveal His beauty. it has been revealed always in new and exciting ways, and it never ceases to astound. so with the new year, i ask you to look upon what the Lord has given you with new eyes, opening them to glimpse the beauty He has laid before you.

"How lovely is Your dwelling place, oh Lord almighty! For my soul longs and even faints for You! For here my heart is satisfied within Your presence. I sing beneath the shadow of Your wings! Better is one day in Your courts, better is one day in Your house! Better is one day in Your courts than thousands elsewhere! One thing I ask and I would seek: to see Your beauty. To find You in the place Your glory dwells!...My heart and flesh cry out for You the living God! Your spirit's water to my soul. I've tasted and I've seen; come once again to me! I will draw near to You!"
--Better is One Day