Every new beginning is another beginnings end.

I am still getting used to writing 2009 on things.  I rang in my new year sick, on my couch, in my pajamas and with plenty of medicine in my system. What a year it has been. This same time back in 2008 I was in Durango, substitute teaching and planning for the Sonlight Summer Camps. I remember at that point in time being so stressed out about where I would be a year from then.  I was employed up until August at Sonlight, but then after that point, it was all up in the air.  

Some one once said that experience is what happens when you don't get what you want.   I had interviewed for my "dream job" out in California in May of 2008. It was my ideal job at that point.  I could see myself in that role. I left the interview very confident.  I ended up getting turned down. I didn't get what I wanted, but I did get the experience. I was so beat down and broken at that point that I was back at square one. I had no plans or prospects once August was over.  

A good friend and mentor of mine told me to spend some quiet time with God.  To go sit in the woods, early morning, clear my head and just listen.  

There I sat....and I listened. 

Then I listened harder. 

And harder. 

God didn't come in a loud booming voice or in extreme circumstances.  An answer to prayer came the next day when I was informed of a posting for a graduate assistantship at Colorado Christian University. I applied, I interviewed and here I sit writing from Denver and employed at Colorado Christian. 

That is the beauty of New Years. It forces us to take a look at the past year and reminisce, reflect and see Christ's presence in the past year. 2008 was a new beginning and another beginnings end for me. It was full of changes. With change presents new adventures, more experience and even a new perspective.  The only thing I can be sure of in 2009 is that it will be full of even more changes and that Christ will be faithful as long as I seek his face daily. 
Philippians 4:6:
   6 -7 Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.