All in a year

2012.  What a year.

 We all know trials happen for a reason and that we'll look back later and say we learned a lot and grew because of them, but I can't say I'm to that point yet.  I can see how 2012 has helped me grow as a person, but I'm not quite thankful for it yet.  Thanksgiving came and I saw a whole lot of thankful posts on facebook and blogger and I couldn't bring myself around to doing it.  I couldn't quite be the optimist and state everything I was thankful for when I had lost one of the people I love most in this life and the others I love most were hurting.  Are hurting.  2012 has brought death of multiple family members, unemployment(the company Jon worked for went out of business), morning sickness for months on end, missed memories, crazy school schedules, and a lot of moments when I question, "why?"

I could say the same thing I said last year and say, "Goodbye 2012.  Please don't come back again, and we hope this next year is a better year."  But it won't change anything that's happened in the last 12 months.  Hopefully 2013 is a year of healing and peace but I'm not going to go as far as to say it won't be painful on June 16th when we have that painful anniversary of everything that's happened in 2012.  

However...I'm grateful for hope.  I'm grateful for a Being who has given us a reason to hope that things always get better.  We may have started a new chapter in our lives, or you may be someone who's just starting to go through something that will bring about a new chapter in your life,  an unwanted chapter, but there's a Being who knows what you're going through and He is there.

Time moves forward, whether we want it to or not.  There have been times this year that I have wanted time to stop and there have been other times where I am so grateful that it just kept going.  Who knows what 2013 will bring.  I know Jon and I have started family "habits" in the last couple weeks that will hopefully help us be better prepared to handle anything that comes in life.  2012 definitely taught me about accepting the Lord's will, and while I hope the lesson is learned and 2013 is a little easier on us and is a time for healing, we can never know what's in store.  I guess that's what keeps life...exciting.