Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2012- Facing Fear and New Beginnings


L
ast night I spent a few hours looking through photos from 2012, reviewing the past year.  What a year 2012 was for me!  I chose some favorite photos from the past year for this post.  Just reviewing these floods me with emotions, both happy and sad, but overall I am super-grateful for the Lord's faithfulness in our family's life.

















No doubt about it, 2012 was a year of facing fear for me. First I had the glorious opportunity to face my fear of heights and go sky diving~ for real!  That was *so* fun... if I ever have opportunity to do that again, I'd jump at that chance (so to speak!).  I actually think that it'd be even more fun the second time around, now that I know what to expect.







Soon after my skydiving adventure, I was diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia problem, called ventricular tachycardia.  In spite of that, I was able to continue to swim, bike and run in preparation for my first half-Ironman triathlon, scheduled for September.  This ended up being another opportunity for me to face fear as I trained because I never knew when the VTach would randomly act up.











We were blessed to vacation in Colorado as a family...







September arrived and I did successfully complete IM Branson 70.3.  I loved training for, and competing in the half-Ironman distance.











I hardly know how to finish this post.  The final 3 months of 2012 have been extremely difficult for me.  On November 20, I faced fear yet again when I was forced to make a decision to leave home with the children.  We are safe now, staying with my parents.  Can you imagine them taking so many of us in?  I can't even tell you how very, very blessed I am by my family.  So many women are left with no options; I am grateful that I did have options.

I am broken and sorrowing in ways that I simply cannot express.  I will not share details here, but we all would deeply covet your prayers as we embark on a very new (and at times terrifying) chapter of our lives.

This I do know: God has not changed.  He remains faithful, and I am choosing to look to Him and rest in His care for us.