Wrapping up the year 2013 is going to be a 2-part post with part one being a look back and part two being a look ahead.

I should confess that I have been stuck for quite a while now, trying to come up with a way to succinctly summarize the year that has been 2013 and I’m still not sure that I’ve got it right.

2013 was the year that should never have been. 2012 was supposed to have been the end of the world and yet here we all are a year later. 😀 (Sorry, I couldn’t resist that comment!!)

Even though this post is a look back at 2013, I’m not going to run through a list of events, I did that already in a post called Uncharted Water.

Looking back at 2013 is not all about the accident in the river for me, although that was certainly an event that was unlike any other in my life, but there are so many other parts that made up the whole of the year.

For me, 2013 has been a year of learning about myself in a depth that I’ve never encountered before.  Of growing closer to God, before the river accident, and then realizing after the accident why He had drawn me closer to Him ahead of time. I’m also closer to my husband Dan at the end of 2013 than I was at the beginning of the year.  There’s been so much growth in virtually every area of my life that pausing to reflect on it all can be overwhelming.

I also feel like I have spent a good part of this year trying to figure out how to walk on a new path, one that is different than anything I could have mapped out for myself, or would have even considered really pursuing.

Just undertaking a task like this blog and posting 5 days a week would have sent me running for the hills a year ago. The learning curve of the technology, the creativity required to come up with subjects to write on for each post and then the hours upon hours that it takes to pull it all together is way too much for me to take on when added to a full-time career, being the mom of two active teenagers, and being involved in ministry with my husband Dan. Yet, the blog is here, it’s not quite looking the way I’d like it to, but that’s a learning thing that I’m still working through. (Shout out for help to anyone reading this who knows to program WordPress blogs!) There are subjects and posts scheduled several weeks out and when I sit down to compose a post, I rarely sit with my fingers motionless on the keyboard.  Occasionally I’m tempted to ask, ‘ Where is this all coming from’, but I know the answer already.  God has placed this in my heart and it’s simply a pouring out of what’s being poured into me. However, I am amazed daily that it has come together and that it is still coming together, not to say anything of the amazement I feel when I look at the stats page of the blog and realize that people are reading this blog. But that is nothing compared to being out and about on a regular day and having people come up to me to say how much they’re enjoying reading what I’ve been blogging. It feels like I use the word overwhelmed a lot lately to describe how I feel, but I really don’t know of another word to use.

Then there have been the opportunities to speak.  There really are no words to describe what it’s like to be physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted on the day that the national media decides to descend on your door step unannounced. Of course, we could have declined the requests for interviews and comments, however after literally a moment of consideration, Dan & I jointly decided to tell the story of the river accident because of God’s incredible hand in the story. It’s never been about us. Not that night, and certainly not in the days, weeks and months since. The story is all about God and what He did. If the speaking opportunities had been limited to a couple of days that would be something considering that in those first couple of days, God communicated His story right across Canada and into many other parts of the world.  However, here we are over ten months later in December and I’m still being contacted about speaking and telling the story that’s been entrusted to us. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve looked to God and asked, “Who am I to tell Your story?” and then gone on to ask Him to give me His words to speak. I wish I could describe better what it’s like to share the story of what God has done and then to literally watch it change people’s lives.  The struggle I have within me to be able to get past my hesitations, nerves and reservations about speaking is a battle that still goes on, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

As I look in wonder at all that has happened in 2013 and realize all that God has done it’s with a heart full of nervous excitement that I look forward to the days ahead…but wait, that’s part two of this post and so we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get a peek at that!

Be blessed as you take a look at your own 2013 year. I’d love to hear some of your stories in the comments below!