2010 brought along so many changes. My dad got a pacemaker, I changed jobs (after another layoff) back to my first job at OMNOVA, my dating world did a complete 180, and I got baptized and engaged.
I started the year going through The Purpose Driven Life with some of the people from my Elevation Starting Point group and our leader Rick and his family, and I am completely grateful that I followed through with it. It's amazing what God has brought me through since I got saved in 2009. He placed me in the exact group that challenged me to step out of my comfort zone and get involved, plus I met one of my best friends in that group. While going through The Purpose Driven Life, I made the decision to start volunteering at church, and God took it from there. He prompted me to get into the exact role that I said I would never go near: greeting. I'm not comfortable with crowds, and when you're greeting, you are facing the crowds that walk in the doors. But what was amazing is not only did He change me personally through the experience, He led me to meet the love of my life, and answered my prayers at the exact time that was right.
I can't even begin to count the number of devotionals and reading plans I started in 2010. I have become sort of A.D.D. on those...I have at least 2 going at the same time, because you never know which one will really hit home on any given day.
In the past year I discovered Christian authors and contemporary christian music (more on music later). I always liked Joyce Meyer, but I also discovered Max Lucado, Francis Chan, Craig Groeschel, and Clayton King. Pastor Steven also had his first book released, Sun Stand Still.
And this brings me to the music. Here are my songs of the year that have a special meaning to me (even if they weren't all released in 2010)
- Live Like We're Dying - Kris Allen
- Give Me Your Eyes - Brandon Heath
- Mama's Song - Carrie Underwood
- Praise You in this Storm - Casting Crowns
- Our God - Chris Tomlin
- God Gave Me You - Dave Barnes
- You Never Let Go - Elevation Church
- Give Me Faith - Elevation Worship
- You Found Me - The Fray
- The River - Good Charlotte
- Walk By Faith - Jeremy Camp
- Only You Can Love Me This Way - Keith Urban
- What Faith Can Do - Kutless
- Born Again - Newsboys
- Jesus Freak - Newsboys
- I'll Know You - Sons of Sylvia
- Stuck Like Glue - Sugarland
- Lose My Soul - TobyMac
- Get Back Up - TobyMac
- No Apologies - Trapt
- She Don't Want the World - 3 Doors Down
- Sun Stand Still - Elevation. Very Inspiring. Made me think about my prayer life, and if I'm living in audacious faith every day. Until this series, I had no idea what "audacious" even was.
- F-Bomb (Elevation) - Challenging series on forgiveness. It's a daily process, and sometimes you have to forgive someone over and over for the same offense.
- Christ Alone (Elevation) - Romans 8 series...which now, Romans 8 is one of my favorite chapters. Having the staff members reciting it on stage brought it to life for me.
- The Highest (Elevation) - Right before Christmas we had this series. Each week was life-changing.
- Confidence (LifeChurch.tv) - Not really sure if this came out in 2010, but it's one of my favorites that I listened to last year. Confidence in certain situations and atmospheres is something I've always struggled with, so this was a big message for me to listen to. "Real peace is not determined by our circumstances; real peace flows out of our relationship with and confidence in God."
- Margin (LifeChurch.tv) - Week two was on scheduling margin in our lives. Basically, we need to schedule some time in between our activities in our day. One point was "Busy-ness does not equal importance, meaning, or productivity." He also mentioned two things that are commonly first to go when we are squeezed for time (and I've witnessed this in my life): the first is intimate time with God, the second is intentional times of rest.
One final note on 2010: I got to visit Newspring Church with Keirstin in August. We sat in one of the first few rows, and it was so amazing to be there! Next on the list is lifechurch with Craig Groeschel...haha.
For 2011 my focus is going to be to set up more of a routine for spending quiet time with God. Something that Larry Hubatka said in his part of the message last night (we had 3 campus pastors tag-teaming it) was that we should be creative in spending time with Jesus. That is going to stick on my mind for a long time, because I'm so stuck in the mindset that quiet time has to be alone in my room when no one will bother me...and that's just not possible every day. I'm going to ask God to show me new opportunities to spend time with Him.
2011 is going to be the best year of my life yet: I'm getting married in April to the most amazing guy I've ever known, and I'm so excited for what God has in store for both of us! There are a lot of unknowns that we are facing this year, but I know we will be able to pull through because we will always have our faith to turn to.
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