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Thursday, January 2, 2014

2013. Done & Done.

2013. Gone. Done. Adios.

2013, you weren't my favorite year.
You weren't my least favorite year, no, that was 2007.
But, compared to more recent years past, there was a lot to live up to, and you just didn't make the mark.
So, I can't blame you 2013, I just wish you had stepped up your game.

There were incredible highlights, like that time I went to Hawaii with my parents and went snorkeling with my dad and a pod of wild dolphins jumped and spun along side our boat...







And then...AND THEN they joined us for a swim in Honolua Bay.
Hands down, no question, best moment of the year.




And in 2013, there were no new countries visited. No new states either. Most of the year was spent along the West Coast exploring.
NorCal, SoCal, CenCal - is CenCal a thing?

I adventured locally. Baked a lot. And spent a bit of time changing things around to make my house even more of a home.

I caught both sunrises and sunsets. Many, many sunsets.
Each one, reminding me not to worship the created, as incredible as it is, but the creator - who is more incredible than these mere samples of His glory.








As I reflect on 2013 here in these first days of 2014, and I begin my daily quiet times in the book of Genesis, I am reminded that as in creation, "God saw that it was good".

Despite 2013 not being a milestone year, one necessarily for any record books other than my own, God still saw that it was good. 

I ended 2012 and began 2013 reminding myself that the Lord does not waste anything. He redeems it all, as he showed me at the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012, for His glory, and our good.

Funny how he has been stringing these pieces together. Sanctifying me each year, He is the one writing the story.  Teaching me. Slowly.

And as I begin 2014, I don't know what the Lord holds in store. I don't know how next January's post will read. What lessons I will learn.  But I know that it is in the hands of the Almighty God. All knowing. All powerful. Infinitely loving.

So on these crisp January days of 2014, where the trees are mere skeletons, and the ground is parched longing for rain that hasn't come, where the skies are hazy and smoggy, I need to cling to Jesus for 2014. I want to set my heart on things above. Because I long for belonging. I need to long for Him. And he has made me his own. I belong to Him. He loves me. He has chosen me. And I want to remember that all the days He has for me this year.  I have been chosen by the Almighty God. And in the end, at the end of the day, the end of the year, the end of my days, that is all that matters.

7 comments:

  1. those are beautiful sunsets!! Gotta love God's work of art!!!
    Happy New Year!

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  2. good...ness. girl. i'm a blubbering mess reading this.
    so, so lovely and so convicting and true.
    love it.
    love ya!

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  3. I started over in Genesis yesterday too and also had some thoughts about the whole "and He saw that it was good." thing. I noticed that the pattern was 1. God said it. 2. It happened. 3. He saw that it was good. Like He said "let there be light", there was light and He saw that it was good. That was the pattern until man showed up and decided not to listen. God said it should be this way, it didn't happen that way and it all fell apart. I don't want that to be true of my life. I want to read what He says, do it and have Him say that it is good. Not because of what I'm doing. I'm not going off on a works-based tangent here. I want to have the faith to trust & obey. That's the theme I'm focusing on this year. Trust and obey. Trust that what He says is good and obey.

    Sorry for the rambling comment. Hopefully there was something in there that made sense... :)

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  4. so great kim.
    here's to a new year!
    more sunsets, more adventures, more focus on our Great God!

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  5. Love the opening to this post. I feel the same way. Actually, about all of it. Here's to 2014.

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  6. Haha! No, Cen-Cal is no a thing at all! :) We call it the Central Coast. Just so you know!! :)

    The photos of Hawaii are breathtaking! Make me want to head on over there right now!

    Thanks for the reminder about God redeeming everything. It's been a struggle to believe that over the last few years, but I need to focus on that and remember to even notice the little things! :)

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