Interruption of Unstarted Series - aka HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So I said be watching for 'things I learned at seminary' blog posts. Continue to do so, but it is time for the obligatory New Years Eve post. Happy New Year of 2011 to you, by the way!

2010 has finished up. What happened in 2010? Here are my highlights:
1) Grew in some relationships with great people
2) Spent lots of time praying about what 2011 (specifically what life after seminary would look like)
3) Worked with an unbelievably solid team to communicate the Gospel at camp
4) Saw my brother graduate and begin a job with the US State Dept.
5) Saw my dad recognize an obstacle and seek help.
6) Recognized my own obstacles and my own need for help. God's grace abounded.
7) Watched the Lord hand craft the small details of my life to fit specifically me.
8) I graduated from seminary...now I'm a student apart from school.
9) The Lord provided a job!
10) Found myself ringing in the New Year in ye old Gray, GA for the 2nd straight year.

An update on my 2010: I still haven't arrived. I'm still in progress.  2010 brought some hard life lessons and made me recognize how desperately I'm still in need of grace and I'm still a lover of community. So how about you? How was your 2010?

2011: What are my hopes? Well there are many. But I can tell you what my prayer for 2011 was/is: I pray that the Lord will grant me wisdom and favor. I know that I love the Lord, but for 2011, I pray for grace to trust Him even more. I would LOVE to see the essence of faith spelled out in my life. My friend Ann Dorriety reminded me of a passage that I'm praying will be my life in 2011: I'm sure you've heard the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Those were the 3 that the king ordered to be thrown into the fiery furnace. They demonstrated legit faith. As they are about to be thrown into the furnace, they are telling the king that they believe the Lord will save them from the fire. That's faith. Faith is belief in something unseen. They didn't know they would be saved, but they had faith that they would. But within faith is always the element that you could be wrong. So facing this uncertainty, here's what these 3 had to say to the face of the king: (Daniel 3:17-18) "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. BUT EVEN IF HE DOESN'T, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." FAITH. These three knew their God could save them, but would He? For clarity's sake, God did save them.

I want the kind of faith in my God so that I pursue the belief in things I cannot see. But even if I get it wrong, I will trust Him to steer my paths and passions. What are YOUR goals for 2011? What do you want to see happen? Hey, I've got much love for you.