New Year's Story

I totally forgot about the New Year. I've had so much else going on in the past couple of weeks that it didn't even register as important.
Of course, to be real, its kind of really similar to the switch from another month to the next. There's just a year change involved. But anyways, I will tell you the story of how I forgot.

So, I've been traveling quite a lot, as usual. For a few days I was at my grandparents' house in Tennessee. Then I went down to Orlando area for a memorial service for my other grandmother, who died recently.
Our Soler family side came down, and a few of us went in a fishing boat three miles to an old wreck site and cast her ashes on the ocean. It was a new experience; the sea was what the captain called "sloppy". I had never heard that term applied to the motion of the ocean, but it was accurate in what it did to our boat. It was much more exciting than a roller coaster, in my opinion. Of course, I think riding a swing on the playground is pretty exciting.
But to be fair to me, the wind was blowing hard, the swells were at least five feet tall, and we were driving hard against them on the way out.  It was enough to make some of us a little seasick. I was not seasick, but I was really glad we were in a BIG fishing boat. It was fun to try to stand up in the tossing waves when we stopped.

So after a few very fast-paced days in Florida, we drove a long day up to Louisville for the GYC conference. (GYC is Generation of Youth for Christ. It is a very well-attended Adventist youth conference that is held for a few days at the end of every year in different locations around the United States. If you want to look it up, go to gycweb.org. If you just search GYC, you may get something different.)

Because I didn't pay registration, I just stayed in Louisville until Friday night and Sabbath, when it was free to attend.

I saw lots of people I knew, of course, which is the result of being a pastor's daughter, going to an Adventist academy, attending a Bible School, canvassing many different places, working at different Adventist summer camps, going on mission trips, and just being friendly.
For me, GYC is a whirlwind of people, smiles, short conversations, hugs, squeals, and long meetings with many interesting presenters.

So, about New Years.

I had bad a pretty stressful day, and was rather zoned out. I just wanted to go to bed and sleep. It vaguely occurred that it was December 31, and I knew that meant it would be January soon. Of course! Because I'm supposed to start my practicum in January, which was the next week.
(Verb tenses!)
So I was laying in bed, my parents were up late talking, and I was kept awake by all these distant muffled popping sounds outside. It sounded strangely like gunshots, but I dimly realized they were more likely to be fireworks, since they were quieter and went on for quite a while.
"Oh well," I smiled to myself, "People like to celebrate at random times. It must be somebody's birthday or something."

The next morning, I see texts wishing me a happy new year.

I'm like, "Wait, a new year? When did this happen?"

*face palm*

Yes, I've been more preoccupied than usual. Way more.

This is life. Welcome, 2016! I like the sound of you better than 2015. I think we will get along fine. God is in control, and together, He and I are going places and doing things beyond my imagination.
When doing His will, I can know no failure.
I make no plans for myself, but strive to surrender to Him, that I may know His will and walk in it in His strength.
I don't know what is ahead, but it doesn't make a different to worry. I trust God is preparing me and you today for what is coming tomorrow.

Let's learn to trust Him this year, more than ever before. Let's learn to put aside feeling and step forward into the darkness of uncertainty. Let's learn to love and to be faithful to Him. Let's choose to be unselfish and to put His honor first.

We are, after all, the light of the world. We cannot be hidden. Let's live wisely in the darkness so others can see the light of God's glory.

Let's go, 2016!