2018 - There Were Good Times, Too

The year 2018 continued with a few notable memories. For one, I was becoming much more involved in my new church. I began serving in children's ministry within a few months of attending, but in 2018 I started helping the children's ministry director with scheduling the school-aged children. Bless her heart, she took on the position and tried to do everything herself. It was too big of a job for one person but I think she had trouble recruiting. So instead, I volunteered. It was rough at first, learning her methods and who served during what service (we have 3 English and 1 Spanish currently), but once we got into a rhythm it was easier and I was having a great time.

Then I was asked to co-lead a ladies Bible study group at the end of 2017. I found myself studying and preparing, and in doing so my relationship with God grew stronger. I loved being able to share with a wonderful group of women who are hungry for God. I also loved the woman I was co-leading with. She's almost 20 years younger than me, but what a powerful woman of prayer! I was learning more from her than I would have ever imagined! We studied the book Mark by Lisa Harper and The Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer (excellent study, I highly recommend it!). I could see why God moved me to this church. I was growing in my walk with Him, much more than I'd done in my previous church.

Another event that happened in 2018 was Tropical Storm Gordon. As anyone can imagine, right after a year of hurricanes the likes of Irma and Maria, we were not happy about getting hit with anymore storms. Thankfully it wasn't much more than rain. Living in Florida means that we have to deal with storms. Some years the storms are few and far between; other years we see a wave of tropical storms and hurricanes that either hit us or come uncomfortably close. It's part of life here and we thank God when we have years like 2018 when we escape the worst storms.

And just like that, the year was over. It was filled with birthday, weddings, parties, holidays and celebrations. It was also filled with changes, but in every change God remained faithful. On to 2019 and yet more changes!