The Truth of 24
With my 25th birthday tomorrow, I’ve been reflecting on the past year a lot. I knew my 24th year would hold a lot of changes; how could it not with the whole getting married thing? Previously, I had always anticipated that my 18th year with graduating high school and starting college would be the biggest year of change I would face. Or maybe even my 22nd year when I graduated college and had to put my big girl pants on to join the real world.
Wrong.
My 24th year revealed a new position at the Crisis Center with increased responsibilities, Andy losing his job and having to decide what he wanted to do next, leaving my church of 11 years and having to find a new church family, moving out of the home I’d shared with my brother for three years to an apartment in a new part of town, and suddenly finding myself sharing a bed with my new husband. Lots of change, very little adjustment time.
One thing that finally stuck in my head (it only took a few years for it to finally click) was fully grasping that God’s plan was always bigger. I grabbed onto this fact and carried it with me as my life raft through the entire year. When we were five months away from our wedding day and lost half of our income from Andy’s job, we understood why my salary and hours had been increased just two weeks earlier. When we were church shopping around Tampa to find the perfect fit for us, it made sense that Andy had made new friends in the previous months who attended a small house church in Ybor. Nothing was a coincidence. Nothing was a surprise to God.
Every year there are going to be changes. Every year there are going to be ups and downs I didn’t anticipate. With all of the events of my 24th year behind me, God has fully equipped me with the strength to conquer anything, the support system I need to help me along the way, and the knowledge that my God is great and has a plan for my life better than anything I ever could have dreamed up for myself. An unforgettable 24th year is now behind me, and an even better 25th year lays ahead.