Happy (Almost) New Year!

I can't let 2007 get away without one more post! I wanted to share some highlights from my year, plus a few things God is teaching me!

Highlights:

• A non-pre-planned reunion with my Street relatives after Grammie passed away in January. (I love my extended family.)
• Dad coming to ITC at the end of January for a fathers' conference. God planned it so that he could be there and give me solid advice at a time that I needed it!
  
• A road trip with Miss Yo (Lindsey Y.) to Sarah and Dan G.'s wedding in Nashville in May
  
• A quick trip home for Clyde's graduation from Fairwood Bible Institute in May
• A road trip to Lynchburg, VA, to walk in my graduation from Liberty University in May. Jamie, Kimberly, and Jessica G. joined me on the trip. My family (minus Chad) and Uncle Bob and Aunt Joy joined me at the graduation. Katheryn M. and Jenna G. met the girls and me in Lynchburg the day before graduation, which was also nifty!
• A week-long trip to Washington, DC, in May with the entire LIT department--the biggest Challenge outing so far! God was so kind to provide for the trip and work out all of the details. (And Kerry Y. met me for a quick catch-up when we stopped at Gettysburg on our way home.)
• A road trip with Jamie (and one way with Jamie and Matt) to NJ for Danielle F.'s high school graduation in June. Tiffany was there, too, and it was great fun to be a part of that weekend.
• A trip to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom with the long-term ITC staffers. Mr. Norcross was a great leader and treated us all to dinner on the way back.
• Vacation with my family in July. We went to Six Flags New England, then went camping near Quebec City.
• Mom & Kayla staying with me for a few days in August for the ATI regional conference in Indianapolis.
• Making it through EQUIP XXII (without Jamie and Matt)--all credit to the Lord and thanks also to Jessica G. :-)
• Getting to go to Headquarters and the Northwoods for the 10-day "Journey to the Heart" retreat with the EQUIP girls in October.
  
• Going home for Thanksgiving for the first time since '97, thanks to my ITC friends financing my plane ticket as a birthday gift.
• Singing "Angels' Carol" for Christmas conference with a hastily-formed ITC ladies' choir (almost all the staff and family girls were part of it)
• Being home with my family again for Christmas/New Year's break! (I love my family!)

Some things that God is teaching me . . .

• That I can trust Him to provide all of my needs, but that I can't be fussy about how He does that. He often uses surprising ways!
• That "keeping" the truths God gives me involves remembering them, hanging onto them, not letting them get away from me. I've started listing key verses God gives me in the back of my prayer journal for quick review each day or when temptations/trials come. I know that those verses are true, but I so quickly forget!
• That blessing my "enemies" may involved blessing those who've hurt me, and that I can bless them by asking God to build them up in the areas they seem weak in. It's funny, though, because when I start identifying areas that others seem weak in, I usually end up repenting two times over for my own weakness in those same areas! Then I end up praying for myself and forgetting the person who hurt me. Maybe God had something like that in mind.
• That faith develops when things don't make sense. If they made sense, there wouldn't be a need for faith. (Obvious, yes; easy, no.)
• That God wants us to ask Him for things we want, but that He also wants us to remember to ask for His glory, not for our own selfish desires (James 4:1-3)

One of my favorite passages from the past few months has been Psalm 13:5-6:

"But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to Jehovah, because He has dealt bountifully with me."

I learned it as a paraphrase in a song at Nora [Christian Fellowship], and I love this version, too: "But I trust in Your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing unto the Lord, for He has been good, He has been good, He has been good to me." God brought that song to mind when I was seeking Him with team leaders Rachel J. and Alison G. right before EQUIP training. The way I thought it went then was, "But I rest in Your unfailing love . . ." I discovered later that the correct word is "trust," but isn't "rest" a practical picture of trusting?

I think so, and I trust that you all will be able to rest in God's unfailing love in 2008. Thank you for your friendship.