How Blessed Am I??

This is the time of year when we recount the happenings of the past year and think ahead to what the New Year promises to bring. We set goals for ourselves, usually without a good plan in place to actually reach those goals. We come into the the new year with expectant hope that something big is going to happen... that something will change and that this will be the best year of our lives. So, like most people I celebrated the new year in a big, fun way. I have goals for myself that I want to see accomplished, but how am I going to do that? It's easy to hope for something, but not so easy to see it through. There are things I expect out of the new year... I expect to have all of my funding in and be heading back to East Africa, I expect to lose weight so I can be more affective in my ministry, I expect to meet God in a new fresh way, I expect all my different ministries to grow, and I totally expect to enjoy the time I have left in America to spend with dear friends and family before I enter the mission field abroad once again. I think that all of those things are very attainable... none of those are beyond God. For me, I can't do any of those on my own. I don't have enough strength, even though I like to think that I'm so strong and independent. What good is strong independence if you go everything alone?? I'm praying even now that I wake up every day with expectant and terrible hope that God will be in the center of everything from my weight to my relationships and my ministries. It must be about Jesus, otherwise what am I working towards?
I write these words mostly for myself. As a reminder of my Hope and a reminder of my motivation. People tend to shy away from holding each other accountable because it's hard. It's really hard sometimes!! But I hope that each of you love me enough to hold me accountable to these things.
Anyways... I cannot thank you all enough for an awesome birthday and new year!! I was blessed beyond belief by my friends and family. After spending Christmas being sick, it was amazing to be able to celebrate by seeing SO many of my favorite people on earth!
My bestest friend ever, Michelle was here so I spent the day before my b-day getting pretty with her. We got our nails done and had a blast! Then on my b-day I got to skype with another bff, I was woken up by multiple phone calls and texts, and the first thing I heard the second that I opened my bedroom door was, "Happy Birthday!!!" I had a very relaxing day all leading up to a night with my friends and family and being blessed by each of them. I had friends on their way home from Virginia and instead of going home they came to my dinner, friends drove out from the city to come, another friend drove 4 hours! It was all really amazing to me. I was overwhelmed by the amount of emails and facebook messages from people around the world. I was floored by people's love for me, but more floored by their love for Jesus. I asked on facebook for people to donate to Jade and Shelah Acker's (Lino's family) mission, Refuge and Hope International in honor of my birthday. I was hoping that one or two people would donate a little, but instead my goal was reached and is going to be exceeded!! How amazing that you guys would choose to bless me so greatly by blessing those that are so important to me. Amazing! Jesus is amazing! Last year on my b-day I was blessed so much by the Acker family, so this year I wanted to return that blessing to them and thanks to Jesus and my friends and family it happened! Praise the King Of Kings!
My good buddy, Trent had gotten here on my b-day, so we spent New Years Eve together in Chicago. I was able to see some amazing friends along the way into the city which was fabulous! We got to my good friend's, Blake and Emily's house in Chicago and spent a little time with them before venturing out in the freezing cold to explore city a bit. After our first walk to the "L" it was obvious that finding a nice warm movie theater made the most amount of sense, so we saw a movie, then just as I was thawing out we ventured back out into the cold and walked over to meet up with some other friends for a bit. After hanging with them, Trent and I hopped on a bus (we had to keep warm for as long as possible and walking would NOT have accomplished that) and headed down to Navy Pier for fireworks. After walking around for like 45 minutes the fireworks and music were rocking and the New Year was here! I had never spent New Years Eve in Chicago before, so I had a total blast! It was so much fun! Even with the silly frigid wind I'd do it again! So then after our subzero walk back to the L and then to my car, it was really nice to know that I could be warm... that is until I locked my brother, Trent, and I out of my Vinny's house the next day. :) Oops, thankfully we're all like Mcgyver and were able to break in within like 10 minutes.
So needless to say it was very fun and adventurous and I am blessed beyond measure by the time with my friends and family. The promise of newness and freshness for the new year is exhilarating and I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store. I'm thankful for His promise and in awe of His faithfulness.