A New Year

So...I started a blog last year and didn't do so well keeping up with it. To be honest, the end of last year was difficult in many ways, and much of what I would have had to say would have made me feel vunerable and exposed. In November, my grandfather passed away after several weeks of suffering and a few years of fighting cancer. It has been a difficult time in our family, but I have found peace in my God who is the comforter of my soul. It is because I know my grandfather is with Him, that I can have peace. I am thankful for a legacy of faith. On top of what was going on with my family, it seemed that bad news was around every corner. At work, at school, at home, it just seemed that everyone was receiving bad news of some sort. Again, I had to hold on to my faith in the only one who has control of all of these situations. Our world is broken, that is just how it is. Our only hope is in Christ.

As all of this has been going on, I have also felt like I have been stretched and have grown in my walk with Christ. I feel challenged to push myself in my faith and to continue to desire to know God more. Much of this has to do with my church home that I am blessed to be a part of. This year our church is actually committing to being a part of a "radical experiment" which has to do with all areas of our Christian life, through how we pray, how we use our resources and what we spend our time doing. Our church is reading through the Bible over the next year. I have to be honest and say that I have tried doing this on my own before and have failed miserably. My hope is that the structure and guidance will help me to be a "good student" of the word this year. More than anything, I just hope that I can have the discipline to continue this throughout this next year. I know it will be tempting to be pulled away by various distractions, but I truly desire to do this over this next year. Primarily to learn more about the God that I follow and the Jesus that I am supposed to be striving to be more like each day. So maybe this blog will become and outlet for me to share my thoughts as I read. Maybe it will also help keep me accountable. Whether anyone reads or not, it is always good for me to just put my thoughts out into writing. Maybe this way, they may also be an encouragement to someone else. So...here's to 2010 and hopefully to growing and learning in ways I never imagined.

P.S. I realize I set this up as a blog for both Brad & I...obviously this is kind of becoming more of "my thing" but I'll try and keep updates on here about both of us as well.