New Years Post | Caitlyn

Well, since all the other girls stated that the New Years post was my idea, I figured that I should probably write one.:)

So much has happened to me over this last year. It's absolutely incredible. I had so many opportunities to learn and grow, especially this summer. I also went to the summer camp in West Virginia, and I was able to attend my church's missions trip in August.

I think the biggest thing the Lord taught me was how to forgive.

Now, I'm normally good with most people. I like to make friends and enjoy being around people as a whole. But over the course of the last year or so, the Lord allowed quite a few people into my life that I did not get along with...to say the very least.

As the months past and it got no better, I questioned God more and more about why he had brought these people to my life. I was even a little mad at Him, but no where near as mad as I continued to get at these people. I questioned and I questioned and He answered me so many times, through preachers and devotion books, but I refused to take these answers; they weren't good enough to take away the feelings that I had toward these people. Deep down, it was almost fun having someone to hate. It was a new feeling for me, and I didn't know how to control it. So I just let it be. And my hatred and bitterness started to consume me.

But the time that broke through to me was at our church's ladies conference. The speaker said that there was a lady from her church that had stolen something from her, and she really struggled with it. Every time she past this woman's house, she would look at it and think "thief." The Holy Spirit would convict her that it was not right to think about her that way, but she would only tell herself that it was true. The woman was a thief. But one day, she was hit with the realization that, though it was true, - God had a better truth. The best truth. And Jesus had died for this truth. If Jesus could die for her sins, then she could forgive the thief. She said that now, when she passes the woman's house, she doesn't think "thief," she thinks "forgiven."

God showed me that I can't see all the pieces of the puzzle. But He can. He knows why He brought those people into my life, and He knows why He did, even if I do not. And I don't need to. All I can do is forgive and allow God to do the rest.

I get along quite nicely with some people on my "dislike list" now. But I wouldn't if I had not listened to God. Always listen to him. He knows best. I look forward to what He will teach me in 2015 and I'm glad now for what He taught me in 2014.

-Caitlyn