A Year in Review

Recently I was reading in the book of John when Jesus fed the 5,000. The next day, the crowds of people came searching for Him again and he responded to them by saying, "I assure you, you have been searching for Me, not because you saw the signs and miracles but because you were fed with the loaves and were filled and satisfied." He goes on to tell them not to toil for the food that perishes, but to strive for the lasting food which endures unto eternal life.

This concept was very challenging to me, especially at the turn of the new year. I was struck at how often times in our lives God does incredible things - answers prayers, performs miracles on our behalf, changes all kinds of circumstances - and yet, his purpose in doing all of these things is not simply so that we can be "fed", so to speak. I believe that God's purpose in these everyday workings, big and small, is to cause us to believe on Him more than we do now, to entrust ourselves into his care in a greater and deeper way. John 6:29 "This is the work that God asks of you: that you believe in the One Whom He has sent."

So, going back to my point, I've been challenged to review and take an account of the great things that God did in the last year, 2007. It was an incredible year for me...

To start off, in the first week of January of 2007, God gave me a scripture to hold on to for the rest of the year: Luke 1:37, "For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment." Of course, I held on to this scripture for about a month and then promptly forgot it. Thankfully, God continued to do the impossible the rest of the year without my remembering his promise.

These are the "impossible" things which happened the rest of the year:

1. I purchased a home. Those of you in DC know the impossibility of this quest, especially for a single person. However, I held this dream out before the Lord, fully believing it was impossible and he came through! Of course, the circumstances didn't quite work out as I had envisioned - it was actually better than I could have imagined. Not only did I find a home that I liked and was at a reasonable price, but two incredible things happened: 1. I offered $18k less than the listing price and they accepted without any negotiations!, and 2. I had two people who were interested in investing in the Norfolk area actually put down cash on my home as an investment, thus saving me beaucoup amounts in interest and PMI! I could not have foreseen either of these things happening and it seemed like God just orchestrated it all for me. Talk about amazing.

2. I completed a triathlon. If you want to read the details, go to my first post (skip the one underneath this one, and it's next...hehe). Definitely an impossible. I actually didn't believe it was possible even on the day of the event. The whole time it seemed impossible, that's why I called that post "Doing the Impossible". There was never a point when I said to myself, "I think maybe I can do this!" No, never. It was always a mystery, that's what makes it so incredible to me that I actually finished.

3. I left DC. Now, this one is a littler harder to understand from the outside why exactly this would be impossible, so I will try to explain. In general, my personality lends itself well to adjusting to its surroundings. I normally can bend on most things in a disagreement and one of my weaknesses is that I tend to desire peace at all costs. The outcome of this is that unless a situation is extremely uncomfortable (as in, not tolerable in any way whatsoever, even for me), I won't change it. At least this was my attitude in the past. Of course, I'm always trying to be diligent about seeking God and changing behaviors in my life that don't line up to the Word. I'm more referring to big life changes, such as where you live, work, etc. An example of my past inclination would be when I stopped working at La Perla (the restaurant I worked at during college). When I think back about the kind of situations I put up with there, I'm amazed that I stayed as long as I did. God literally had to defeather the nest to an intolerable place such that I literally had an emotional breakdown at work before I realized it might be time to go. So, the amazing thing about leaving DC was simply that I did not want to leave. In every way, I loved life. I had a great church, my job was working out great, I had an incredible family and friends, and don't even get me started on the Lukie B. To leave a place of comfort required very clear communication from the Lord. After I arrived in Norfolk I suddenly realized what I did and I got so happy! I said, "God! I really do follow you no matter what! That's incredible!"

As I've reflected back about these three things and the real purpose that God had, I can see that 2007 was a year of teaching me to stand on my own two feet, just me and God. Being willing to walk away from everything comfortable to reach the goodness that God promised - that was it. And now I'm terribly excited about 2008. In every way it's a year of new beginnings. I don't have a new verse for the year yet, but in the last 2 weeks, I've already had things start changing. I look forward with great anticipation to the coming year!

What about you - what did God do for you in 07???