These are a few of my favorite things...

So I woke up this morning and realized that it’s been 5 years since the worst year of my life. My “sucky sixteen” was what it sounds like…sucky. Sorry to sound depressing, but my grandpa died unexpectedly, I struggled with anorexia, my uncle was diagnosed with a brain tumor, my friends mom was diagnosed with cancer and passed away shortly after, I struggled with health, had surgery, and was diagnosed with an untreatable disease. That year of my life caused me to hate God and hate life.

Remembering that it’s been 5 years since all of that occurred made me think about what’s changed since then. First of all, I am now more prepared for when trauma occurs because I have already endured the worst. God has been consistently showing me how certain experiences I’ve faced have formed me into the woman He wants me to be.

Ive learned through “sucky sixteen” to rely on Jesus because everything around me will fail. My health was gone, people were gone, and people were continuing to go around me. But God remained and held me tight when I tried to run away from Him. I’ve learned that bad things will happen. It’s inevitable because of sin in the world. So how will I react to it?

Because of “sucky sixteen,” I found my life verse that has encouraged me through the worst of the worst. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 says, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. FOR WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG.”