Here's To 2017, New Comfort Zones, and an Amazing God.

Blue Ridge Parkway...traveling to visit one of my amazing friends at college. =)

I've started a New Years post like four times by now....and well it never comes out right.

2016 has been a weird year. It wasn't bad but it wasn't like a super amazing year. I guess it was just life. You know, the ups and the downs. The tears and the laughter. The smiles and the pain.

I've learned this year that good things don't always look like what we want them too. As a Mock Trailer I go into competition thinking if we do good then we'll win. It's almost more than "If A than B" it's more like "A equals B."

I went in thinking doing good equaled WINNING. And while in Mock Trial this often does happens, doing good does not always equal winning. And this year for my team it did not.

In February, we went to Regionals and competed amazingly well but the in the last team we lost by one point. We did good but we still lost.

In October, we went to a invitational tournament where once again we competed to the best of our abilities...we did GOOD. In the end though, we lost over 1/2 our ballots which placed us well outside of the top ten. We did good but again we lost.

Does that mean that we did something wrong? Should we have changed how we portrayed our witnesses? How we delivered our exams?

No. Good things don't always look like we want them too. God has a bigger plan. a bigger purpose than us. His way is perfect.

And in the end...I wouldn't have traded either of those seasons for anything.

His way is always good. It's been a hard lesson to learn and sometimes I still struggle to believe it but's 100% true.

I've also learned this year that we're not meant to run this race alone. That we can't run this race alone. I'm a thinker. I would rather think through an issue by myself than talk it out with another person.

This year though I've learned that God hasn't placed us, as Christians, in a community for nothing. He's placed us in a community of brothers and sisters so we can support each other, pray for each other, bear each other's burdens.

We have been given a great gift in our brothers and sisters...we shouldn't ignore it.

So, as we enter this brand new year let's not run from the hard things but embrace them. Let this year be a year where we purpose to step outside of our comfort zones and follow God's plans to the fullest.

Let us not be scared of what this New Year holds but run into it knowing that our God is already there.

So, here's to new adventures.
New comfort zones.
And following God to new heights.
Here's to 2017.