Changes

Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year greetings! Everyone's holiday posts have been up....except for mine. It's not that I am behind. It's that I've been enjoying the moment!

We've has an extended amount of family time this holiday season. In addition to our regular family traditions and my birthday celebration, A.J. planned what he called "Five Nights of Christmas", where the week before Christmas, we had a family activities. Choirs, shopping, movies, each evening we were making memories and enjoying each others company. We also observed Chanukah which helped us to take a moment together for eight days to be grateful for God's provision in our lives. And finally the New Year weekend we had our toes in the sand, played games and enjoyed meals together on the Gulf coast. It was the best holiday season ever with less stress and more quality togetherness.

But what really made it the best for me had little to do with what we did and more about what the Lord has done in me. Since my post back in August, Disappointments and Blessings, my focus has been transforming. Outwardly my life is pretty much the same but inwardly my perspective has changed. My blessings have moved to the forefront and my disappointments have faded into the background and are barely visible to me. Triggers which usually lead to insecurity and self-pity are no longer having an impact. Years focused on rejection, insignificance, what could or should have been, consuming my energy, wasting my time, and robbing me of peace and joy have been wiped away. Guilt for not living up to the church imposed (rather than Christ imposed) standards has been released. My default mode is no longer anxiousness but gratefulness.

So this is what it feels like to live in His freedom! Peace, rest, contentment have settled in and made themselves at home. Now I cherish the preciousness of my life and those in my life TODAY and unconsciously let the rest go. I'm more in love with Jesus, my husband, my children, myself, and my life! It's been a beautiful place to live and made for wonderful holiday season. All glory and honor to the Lord for His work!

Whatever 2012 may bring into our lives, I pray He'll enable His blessings to continually outshine our disappointments. May His grace and peace be with you always. Now and forever. Amen.