Sunday, December 29, 2013

A Reflective Winter Break



Ahhhh (sigh)…finally, a break from school! This is the time when I don’t feel too bad or too guilty about working on my writing and reading the Bible and devotions that enlighten me. Don’t get me wrong, I am always enlightened with my nursing classes and the different topics that we go over and discuss including ethical nursing care, leadership, management, and so forth. However, it is a requirement, nonetheless. For whatever reason, requirements seem to be more dreadful than other things we voluntarily do--things that interest us and feed our souls, things that shape us into who we are and who we have yet to become, things that we read about and through it we learn some valuable information about ourselves. With that said, I am going to spend my pastime during this winter break to indulge in what I love doing—and that is reading what I want to read and writing my thoughts down.

With Christmas behind us, and the crazy hectic schedule in our past now, we have something to look forward to. 2014 is knocking at our front door, are we ready for it? We just had a full year behind us. Do we ever get a chance to evaluate and analyze all the happenings and our growth this past year? Or should we just ready ourselves for this next year without reflection of the past year?

Personally, I like to look back at my year before this year ends and go over my accomplishments, failures, lessons, obstacles, and how those different things intertwined and shaped me into who I am today. Most importantly, in God’s eyes, did I have my act together? Maybe He is saying, “Hmmm. Not shaping like I’d hoped.” And, if that is the case, God is a forgiving God! His love never fails, never gives up, and never runs out on me. I will continue to allow the Lord to shape me into His image and watch as He turns the situations in my life around.

And, as I sit here and think about my past year, I think of those Tuesday evenings spent with my wonderful friend, Linda Bible studying and talking about our week. We share our stories and find resolutions to the problems in our lives with the guidance of Our God. How much I have grown through the counsel of a godly friend like Linda and I am forever thankful for her friendship.

I also think of the obstacles I overcame. There were definitely challenging moments…moments that left me on my knees praying to God, asking for His direction because He promises to “make our paths straight” (Proverbs 3:6, NIV). He is always at work in our lives, even during the most challenging and stress-filled moments. When we hand over everything we are and everything we have to God, when we rest upon his Truth instead of our own understanding and choose to walk in obedience, we can count on God for direction. And this is what I will continue to do into my new year. Yes, I am excited about the New Year, a fresh start, a brand new set of days filled with new dreams and unmarked possibilities, but I also know that I will be faced with new challenges. Challenges that I will perhaps question and may not understand fully why they happen the way they do, but I know that God will be with me every step of the way. With that said, I would like to end with a verse from the Bible reflecting on our New Year and what is to come:

“Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:30-34, NIV).

Planning for tomorrow is time well spent; worrying about tomorrow is time wasted. Careful planning is going over goals, steps, and schedules, and trusting in God’s guidance. Worry, in contrast, is consumed by fear and makes it difficult for us to trust God. And when we trust God with our plans, we need not to worry about a thing!

May you have a wonderful New Year filled with love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control for these are the gifts to a starving world (Galatians 5:22-23). 

God Bless,
Seda

This is my daughter's creation of Mr. Fruit of the Spirit from Bible Class. How sweet! :)