Moving Forward In Faith

2010 was a strange year for me. A hard year. A trying year. A year for learning lessons and discovering what was important. A year to reclaim faith.

 Faith in myself, faith in my family, but most important...faith in God.

I had lost faith.

I had started questioning myself as a person, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a friend, a Christian.

The choices I had made, where I had been, where I was going.

Combine my doubt with sicknesses, deaths, goodbyes, accidents, changes and occasional pitfalls...

and trust me, it makes for a pretty depressing year.

I looked for answers. I kept busy.

But, I learned that you don't find answers on the internet, traveling or shopping.

and you can work yourself in circles...only to find out your right back where you started.

It's been a journey. A dark one.

I've realized that God's plan for me is so much bigger that the one I had for myself and with my

 faith in Him back where it belongs...

I'm looking forward to stepping out of the shadows and back into the sun!

I found this beautiful poem and I thought I'd share it.

In an effort to discover who we are meant to be

We must all travel many paths

Some long, and some short

People join and tag along

                                                  While others only follow momentarily

In this changing world it is difficult to know where the paths will take us

And yet we are compelled to follow each as far as it will go

Through pain and suffering

Hurt and hardship

We continue

Hoping for better days

Where living is effortless

Life isn't about winning the race though

It's about meeting people, making friends

Living, and loving, and losing

Sadly nothing in this life is permanent

And the people who believe it is are just deluding themselves

We must make the best of what and who we have in our lives

And never take these things for granted

Our friends and enemies make us the people we are today

And without them we would have nothing

We need their encouragement and discouragement

Help and hindrance, love and hatred

To continue along these paths

We cannot move forward without both wins and losses

These things make us stronger, more resistant

If life was easy it wouldn't be worth living

The challenges make it interesting, they make us try

They make us fight for the things we love in order to keep them

But some of those those things will never last

They fade into the darkness all too quickly

Into the depths of memory to be treasured or forgotten

Lost behind us on the path to be found by others

Hoping they will be treasured as we once treasured them

Memories change, feelings fade, and we are forced to let go of things we once held dear

We can't let these things hold us back

Because if we never move forward we will never be happy

And happiness is the goal of all

If you are happy with where you are in life, enjoy it

It may last, or it may not

Just keep traveling, and living, and learning, and loving until the end