New Year...New Dreams...New Me?

It's a new year friends. And with a new year, comes new everything. New resolutions. New outlooks. New clothes, maybe. New you? Sure. Why not? But don't be surprised if those things get ruined in the first few weeks.

I set NO resolutions this year. None. And I'm happy about it. There's no pressure to change. I'd like there to be change this year, sure. But I'm not going to have a list held over me to basically announce my failures. I've been failing at keeping resolutions for years now. And, honestly, I'm sick of it. And, yes, I realize that actually keeping my resolutions would be the obvious choice, it's hard. So, I decided to ditch the list and live my life as well as I can day to day.

This time of year is always super hard for me. Mid-December until Mid-February.

I've told my story on here before. And I re-live it every year. Some years I handle it better than others. Some years, not so much. This year, I don't know if I will handle it very well. I've been thinking about my dad a lot this year. And I'll tell you why.

This past weekend, we had a youth retreat known as WinterChill. We traveled to OK to New Life Ranch and had a blast! We had 5 girls in our small group come for the weekend. The worship was INCREDIBLE. The fun was amazing! And the messages were exactly what I need to hear. I felt prompted by The Lord to share my story with the girls that were there. So not my plan. I wanted all the girls to be there so that I basically wouldn't have to repeat it and cry all over again. I fought it the first night. But that was God's plan too. He knew exactly when I needed to tell that story. And that was the second night. Part of what we all learned this weekend was to be real with people. To be transparent. So we shared what we struggle with. One of the girls mentioned anger. When I heard that, I had to tell my story because anger was a huge part of my life for a long long time. Still is sometimes. But God is good. All the time.

It's amazing to think about where I was almost 8 years ago. It was around this time of year that my dad went into the hospital. My mind is blown on a daily basis at what God has done in my life. There is no doubt in my mind that he is an active part of my life. No doubt.

This year. I choose joy. I choose to be joyful in all that I do. And when I don't feel like being joyful (because we all know it happens), I will be content. I will find joy in every situation. I will find something good in every situation. I will be thankful.

Thanks for listening...I mean reading.

Choose Joy.

-katie