Year in Review

It's been almost a year since my last post. 

What did I do this year?

Some of my ravenous readers may be saying, "Where, oh where have you been Emily?" 

A lot happened last year.  Not too much to keep me from blogging, but enough that I lost momentum.  Here are a few of the things.

A church launched.  

A new group of precious friends were made through said church.  Children's church.  Another trip to Africa.  

A couple of house moves.

I had the opportunity to write his verse, among others in the "guts" of my new room.

An office move.  A really broken down old car.  A new car.  

Nissan JUKE!

Training for a half marathon.  A half marathon getting cancelled due to weather.  Training for a second half marathon.  

Beautiful morning run along Trinity Trail

A trip to Virginia.  

Approximately three trips to the Fort Worth Zoo. 

A few football and baseball games and ballet recitals.  Some birthday parties.  An epic camping weekend.  The Texas State Fair.  SEVEN live musicals.  The Nutcracker Ballet.  MY FAMILY COMING TO ME FOR CHRISTMAS.  

Meeting the newest additions to friend's families.  Seeing a dear friend tie the knot and all the rekindled relationships at that wedding.  

Blessings.

As I look over the past year, the thing that truly stands out are the conversations that I have had with friends, and how blessed I have been by the grace, wisdom, encouragement, understanding, acceptance, and just plain 'ol Jesus with flesh on goodness.  

Some big things that I have learned this year:

1)  Accept no substitutes for true, godly, authentic community.  1 John 1:9 is a familiar verse.  If we confess, He is faithful and will forgive.  I noticed as I read this verse recently that, in context, this verse is about community.  Verse 7 talks about walking in the light (confession), and that if we do this we have fellowship with one another.  So then the confession in verse 9 is not only directed to confessing between yourself and God, but confession to fellow believers.  As I have fleshed this out in real time I have been so blessed by the response of my sisters with whom I have had the privilege to practice confession.  Forgiveness.  Not that they have the ultimate power or responsibility to forgive, but I have learned the reason that we confess to our Christian family is so that we can experience the forgiveness that God offers in the form of a sister or brother with skin on.  

2)  Confession does not equal repentance, and vice versa.

3)  In my book, as far as consitency in the Word goes, nothing beats a good 'ol fashioned checklist.  Maybe it is the obsessive compulsive part of my brain, but I have to keep up with that checklist, and the app on my phone has become my friend to propel me through the pages of my Old Testament.

4)  There are a lot of crazy, weird stories in the Old Testament.

5)  God told Joshua a lot of times to be strong and courageous.  I have begun to wonder if God told him that so many times because Joshua may have had the tendency to NOT be strong and courageous.  This is encouraging to me because I am someone who lets a lot of fear in to her heart.  And as I think about Joshua facing his enemies out of obedience to God, propelled by his charge to be strong and courageous despite the fear in his heart, it gives me courage to pursue obedience. 

6) The zoo is always better when there is a little chill in the air.

7)  There is NO SUBSTITUTE in life for a really good washer dryer set.  There is nothing on this earth like being able to wash, dry and fold 2 entire loads of laundry, towels and all, in 2.5 hours flat. 

So there you have it folks.  Year in review.  Still so many blessings ahead.  So many lessons to learn.  And in the mean time, here I am living an extremely full life.  Words are not full enough to express the gratitude in my heart.