ten favorite moments of 2013 [part two]

learn from yesterday

live for today

hope for tomorrow

-Einstein-

*   *   * 

This year has been full of blessings and fun adventures. I am so grateful for God's faithfulness over this past year. There have been good days and bad days, but through it all, God has been so good to me.
Here are the second half of the Top Ten Moments of 2013 [see the first six]

7. Blogging community. I am so thankful that I have been able to meet so many wonderful Jesus-loving girl bloggers this year! It's been so fun to find a whole community of girls who write so beautifully and honestly about life. Check out some of my favorites! And in October, I got to meet one of the sweetest bloggers, Miss Bailey Jean from Anchored in Love.

8. Some of my favorite blog posts of 2013:

• Remembering the Cotswolds
• Midtown memories
• Lower Manhattan
• A Painting and a Song
• Creativity
• Frankly Friday
• Belles in Bath
• She Reads Truth review
• Lessons of the Blackberry
• Enchanting Windsor
• Fall Photoshoot at Fort Vancouver
• Montmartre
• Lies // a testimony
• Imago Dei
• My Christmas Poem // No Room 

9. Big sister//Little Sister. Have you read the posts on the Big Sister/Little Sister group I am a part of? It is a new ministry within our church that I have helped to get started. We as Christians are sisters with God as our Father. So with this in mind, one "older sister" (we're mostly in our mid-twenties, some married, some single, some moms) and one younger sister get paired up and spend time each month getting together. Texts, phone calls, emails, and other ways to communicate throughout the month are also used to encourage, uplift, and point these younger girls to Jesus. I loved having a breakfast with these some of these big and little "sisters" in October. It was so awesome to have girls of all ages and stages chat and have a fun time together as sisters! And my little trip with my "little sister" and her friend to our local museum was great this past summer! And seeing my "little sister" sing with the youth choir at Christmastime concert in Leavenworth a few weeks ago brought joy to my heart!

10. Work. I don't write about work too often because I wouldn't ever want any of the children I work with to be identified, because face it, anything written down on social media outlets and blogging is public access for all sorts of people. With that said, I am very thankful for my job as a pediatric nurse practitioner at a rural pediatric clinic. I work with infants, kids, and teens who come in for anything from a sports physical, ear pain, chest pain, sore throat, and developmental delays. But the most challenging population of teens I work with are teens with mental health issues, many of whom have complicated chaotic social situations. Providing the appropriate treatment and resources is so individualistic and personal to each teen, many of whom have given up hope. It caused me a lot of anxiety. I wasn't sleeping well. I always felt like a failure. I assumed everyone around me knew who inept I was at my job. Aside from these challenges, it is often overwhelming and easy to become entangled in hopelessness. But in the last year, God has shown me that He is worthy of trusting with our worries. He has shown me that His love for these vulnerable girls and boys I serve in the clinic far surpasses any earthly love or concern. And I have been learning to trust that even if I may not see the positive change or healing happen in their lives while I work with them, I can trust that God has it under control. He is capable of bringing other people into these teen's lives and tell them about the hope  that is in Jesus. He gives hope to the hopeless, and this truth has changed how I see my job. It gives me joy and hope for each day.

"What gives me hope is the belief that God will be faithful, because He has been faithful before, to me and the people around me.  I need the reminders [like ebenezers].  I need to be told that He was faithful then, and then, and then.  Just because I may have forgotten how to see doesn't mean it isn't there.  His goodness is there.  His promises have been kept.  All I need to do is see.

So when I'm on the edge, peering over into the unknown, trembling and terrified to move forward, afraid to take that next step, I practice believing that full life is beyond the fear.  I know that God's voice has led to me this exact place... He is leading my life, saying to me, as He has been saying to His people throughout history, I will never leave you, and I have left reminders all around, if you have the eyes to see them." 

Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines 

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