Hello, everyone! Happy New Year!
Wow, I can’t tell you how good it feels to be back to blogging again. It’s only been two weeks, but man, I really missed it!
A quick shout-out to all my readers. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be writing. It fills me with such joy to have such amazing feedback day after day and week after week. Thank you for making 2015 – my first calendar year blogging – a huge success.
Currently, we’ve hit over 100 posts, over 1,000 comments, over 10,000 page views, and over 160 subscribers. That’s pretty fantastic, in my mind. Keep sharing my posts with your friends!
2015 was a very interesting year for me. My faith grew tremendously, and I say that if it wasn’t for this blog, I wouldn’t have grown as much as I have. Here are five lessons I learned in 2015, through the ups and downs.
Number One: Life Isn’t Always Easy or Predictable.
In my life, things tend to happen without my prior planning or consent. Things just happen, and I have learned to roll with it all. This past year, I’ve learned that though life isn’t predictable, and accidents really do happen, God is unchanging. He doesn’t change like shifting shadows, as it says in the book of James. That’s such a relief for me when everything around me is going crazy!
Number Two: God Helps Us Through Everything.
I experienced some quite challenging things this year, but looking back, I realize how blessed I am. Not blessed because everything was a breeze, but because God helped me through. Time and time again, God has shown me how faithful He is, even when I am not. Every trial in my life has helped me to put my trust in Him more than I had before. In that way, I am so blessed.
Number Three: God Loves to Give Us Good Things.
I’ve been blessed with getting to know some online Christian friends very well. I consider this such an amazing gift from God. Just because you haven’t met someone in person, doesn’t mean that they don’t exist! I’ve gotten to Skype, use Google Hangouts, and FaceTime with some absolutely wonderful people this year who have encouraged me in my life and faith. If you are one of these awesome girls, please know that you are so appreciated. Hugs all around.
Material and non-material things have a way of brightening up our lives, and God knows this. He loves to give us good gifts because He loves us so much.
Number Four: The Gospel is Incredible.
Growing up in church, I never saw the Gospel as more than something cool and “I’m glad I get to go to Heaven now.” This past year, in dissecting chunks of the Bible, I’ve learned not to take it for granted. I see it now as such a miracle – the miracle that it is – that Jesus chose to came to earth to save us, when we did not deserve any grace or mercy. We were rebellious and sinful, and He yet offers us forgiveness. Honestly, how can we take that for granted?
Number Five: Joy is Not Circumstantial.
Joy comes from knowing the love of Jesus, and not from circumstances. We all have things that go on in our daily lives that we can let crush us. Should we become downcast because of unfortunate circumstances? No way. Joy is more than an emotion. Joy is a choice to accept God’s amazing love for us and find peace in all circumstances. Despite whatever may go on, we can have joy. That is amazing.
I plan on posting a survey about Scattered Journal Pages soon. I’d like to hear your honest feedback on how I can make my blog better.
Now it’s your turn. What have you learned this year? I love reading comments, and whether you’ve been here for two minutes or two months, I can assure you that I read and respond to all comments you leave. I love hearing about your lives! Thanks for letting me share my life with you, and thanks for opening up your lives to me!
Happy New Year, everyone. God bless you all.
*aj
Scattered Journal Pages 
I think the last point is something I struggle with a lot; I’m in public school, and while I like it sometimes, there are days when I want to cry because I hate it so much. That was an important reminder for me that I can still have joy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can definitely say that I struggle with it too. 😉 I don’t go to public school – you’re brave for doing it! – but life isn’t always easy, and things can threaten to take our joy away. Praise God that it comes from Him and it’s not limited! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
LikeLike
I’ve learned a lot of these things in 2015 too. It was a rough year, but a lot of good things still managed to come out of it. After all, “All things work together for the best unto them that love God, even unto them that are called according to His purpose.” Choosing joy is a big one for me. I did a terrible job at it last year. I’m doing my best to be joyful now. I find that when I choose not to despair, to try to be joyful, I’m happier. Don’t know how long it will last, but I’m trying.
LikeLike
Sometimes, the roughest years impact us the most.
You’re right, it’s all for good, even when it’s hard! And believe me, it’s hard. Joy is an interesting thing. It’s partially our choice, but so much of it is praising God for everything that He’s done, both huge (salvation, for instance) and tiny (answers to prayer, blessings, etc.). It’s tough to necessarily be happy all the time, but joy is always available.
LikeLike
One thing I learned in 2015 was along the lines of your “God loves to give us good things” mixed with “When God says ‘nothing is impossible with me,’ he actually meant it.” (Imagine that!) A couple of things I wrote off as “impossible” in various ways–whether impossible now, or “just won’t happen,” or something else–happened in 2015, one of which was so obvious and so huge I still haven’t gotten over it, six months later (and the thing hasn’t even happened yet–coming up this July!). So I guess I learned to let God decide when the answer is no, rather than me assuming it will be.
Thank you for writing! It’s always so encouraging to know I’m not alone in things I’m noticing and thinking over, or to read about something in a new light. ❤
LikeLike
Wow, that is really awesome. I just love it when we can see God in so many areas of our lives. It’s incredible.
And thank you for reading! That means a lot to hear.
LikeLike