Year in Review

What is the biggest lesson you learned in 2009? When I asked myself the same question, what came to my mind most profoundly was this: Just because God is with you, it doesn't mean life won't be uncomfortable. Sometimes He makes you face your fears.

2009 was all about facing my fears (and trusting that God was with me the whole time). This year, I:

Got married. (On short notice, but right on time. Long story, maybe for another post.)

Had a (long, protracted) breast-cancer scare. (Thankfully, I don't have cancer.)

Had the biggest financial worries of my life to date. (Which are currently being resolved.)

Try breaking it to your family that you're getting married in two months.* Try not imagining the worst-case scenario as you go to specialist after specialist and have biopsy after biopsy in attempts to find out what could be wrong with you. Try not panicking as you realize that your student loan payments are going to be way more massive than you had anticipated. For me, getting through all of that without God would have been nearly impossible. But with God, I know that even the worst-case scenario isn't so terrible. With God, I was able to have awkward, difficult, and stressful conversations and sit through awkward, difficult, and stressful doctors' appointments, knowing that He was supporting me and giving me the strength to get through it all. Those situations were uncomfortable, to say the least, but God showed me that I could persevere despite my discomfort.

What was your biggest lesson this year?

*And no, I was not (and never have been) "in the family way".