Starting to like change...

For many years, I vowed that I hated changes in life. I liked to know exactly what my future held and held on to life as it was...but I'm beginning to see that change is very good. Change causes us to step out of our comfort zones and broadens our horizons.

My life is richer and fuller because of the different experiences that I have had over the past few years...new friendships, traveling, studying. The most exciting thing to me is that God orchestrates every phase of my life. He knew every detail of my life before He created me...I don't need to stress about the future because God has it planned. I am excited to see what the future holds. At the beginning of this year, I had no idea that I would be living in Charlottesville in a beautiful neighborhood with wonderful neighbors. If I had refused to move here, I would have missed out on so much...my new church, my new friends...the opportunity to see who I really am on my own. It has been such a great experience, and I look forward to what the future holds.

Thankful

We received good news about my grandmother today...her cancer hadn't yet spread to her lymph nodes! Praise God!

Photography

If you are interested in learning more about photography, visit my friend's new blog: Photography 101. He will be adding new topics in the future.

Christmas tree

I am finally enjoying my first "real" Christmas tree. A couple of times, my dear brother provided a fence-row cedar tree for me. And the past two years, I had a scraggly, fake, hand-me-down tree from a co-worker. But yesterday, my housemate, her parents, and I picked out a tree in Keezletown, and I brought it across the mountain. Today, Kristen's dad set it up for us. We strung lights around it and hung a few of the ornaments that we have. My 5-year old cousin picked out a tea-cup ornament for me this year, pictured above.

My favorite part about a Christmas tree is the soft glow of lights shining among the branches. This evening, as I was mixing cookies in the kitchen and looking through the doorway into the living room to enjoy the beauty of the tree, this thought came to me...we are supposed to be like Christmas trees in this dark world. Our light should shine from within so that others may see the joy that our relationship with Christ brings.

This afternoon, while watching The Chronicles of Narnia movie yet again, my heart was moved by the awesomeness of my relationship with Christ...my Heavenly Father called me to be a part of something bigger. As Aslan lay on the stone tables and broke them, my heart was saddened and glad at the same time. The analogy of what Christ did for each of us is so powerful. His love for me is so great...

This Christmas season, instead of dwelling on the disappointments in life, I want to rejoice in the precious gift of salvation and worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who became a tiny babe in a manger and grew up to give His life so that I might live.