These 2012 days

Jesus, thank you for these 365 days you gave me, all heavily laden with gifts! They overflow! Some days stand out more than others, but each was a gift planned in love. Thank you.

Thank you for those first minutes of 2012 which Kevin and I spent praying for each other through a Skype call.

Thank you for the renewing, fun days I spent at the beach with Sandy and her family, with a couple of veteran missionaries as our hosts.

Thank you for each hour I spent in my classroom and in conference halls with my classmates and teachers, discussing, working, learning. Thank you that I will never stop learning a language, about translating or how to teach a foreign tongue. Thank you that through Your power this always gets better! Thank you that at the end of 2012 it’s been 2 years and a half of study and preparation for the work to come, with a year and a half left.

Thank you for the missionary events that I was able to attend this year, first for Easter in Puerto Vallarta and later for the Cervantino festival in Guanajuato. Thank you for every person who was touched by your love in some way, thank you for the camaraderie among the attendees, friends that I admire. And thank you so much for putting my best mate at my side, my sweetheart, uniting us to share Your light, loving us through each other, and giving us unforgettable experiences together.

Thank you for the days when I lost sight of why I was doing what I was doing and how you never failed to give me the answers I needed as I ran to you.

Thank you for the days when you opened me up and poured your healing balm upon the corners of my heart that needed it, washing much away. 

Thank you for the days that had experiences in them that made me discover a lot more about myself, the good and the bad. Even if I do gulp, thank you for helping me to talk face to face with the ugly side of me that I rather hide. 

Thank you for each day of living with my family, who've seen the best and the worst of me and love me heaps. Thank you that through them you teach me to love more. Thank you for blessing me with their presence, and thank you for the spice their different personalities bring to my life...as well as different moods -chuckles-

Thank you for the days that felt really ordinary, just my routine. But like what Christmas got me thinking..."Weren’t the most glorious songs heard by men and sung to announce the King’s birth, somewhat routine-like? If we looked at a song in a very cold way, don’t things have to be present twice, thrice, more times to sound melodious? Jesus is making a song out of our routine days that will surprise us!" Mostly because we're not expecting anything grand from a string of routine days, but thank you so much for using ordinary things to make something beautiful. 

My life wouldn't be what it is today if it weren't for these days. Thank you for working behind the scenes, thank you for sending your angels to aid me, encourage me, move me forward. Thank you for coming to me and letting me know how crazy you are about me. 

Thank you for the days I had a cough or a stomach ache and the tons of days you kept me healthy and well. 

Thank you for the times you gave me the desires of my heart, like those two amazing months with Kevin. And thank you for the times I felt as if I didn't have enough air and fought back tears because you were doing the opposite of what my heart wished for, apparently. And I say apparently because I know you care too much for my desires to do anything without considering them, so thank you for looking beyond them to what was really necessary and best for my life. 

Thank you for the days I felt alone and friendless. Thank you for how you never failed to remind me of what a great Friend I have in you, more than that really, and the many friends and loved ones I actually have. Thank you for helping me see who I had around me instead of who I didn't. Thank you for how this brought me closer to You.

Thank you for providing my loved ones and I with everything we've needed. Thank you for the days in which I worked, because you put the people and the means in place, and was able to have funds to contribute to things and funds to keep. Thank you for owning the cattle on a thousand hills! This world belongs to You! I belong to You! 

Thank you for the family reunion I had and the one Kevin had. Thank you for taking my family all the way to the south of the country and bringing Kevin's family members from across the globe for Christmastime. 

Thank you for giving me every second, every moment, every breath of this past year and for spending it with me. I love you Emmanuel! God with us. Thank you for surely being with me always, even unto the end of the world (Matthew 28:20)