How is it already 2016!? What the actual heck..

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and had fun ringing in the new year! I know I sure had a good Christmas season. Its crazy how fast time flies! It feels like I just graduated yesterday, I can't believe that was almost 5 years ago now.

Time is a funny thing, it seems like humans are the only things controlled by time. Our every move is dictated by time. Time in its literal sense being the time on a clock, or time of day, or time of year, season, week. Time comes in so many different forms. We let time either make or break our lives.

As a culture we are so consumed by wanting to fast forward time, rewind time, pause time. We always want to be somewhere else, be someone else. We hardly ever put our phones down and because we live in a social media driven world, we are constantly comparing our lives to others. We want to rush everything one minute and the next we want to slow everything down. We are completely consumed by time.

My current season of life is a testament to that. I think I am experiencing the slowest, most boring season of my life. I feel like all I do is sleep and work. I have no boyfriend, Im not in school currently, I don't have a clear idea of whats to come in the next few months or years, a lot of my friendships are in a transition phase. I kind of feel like I'm not really living. To make it "worse" I see everyone around me experiencing the life I so desperately want. I see my friends falling in love, getting married, graduating university, starting killer jobs, getting really cool ministry opportunities and opportunities in life. I so badly want this season to end. I feel like some how I've failed. My focus has been on desiring whats ahead of me in an unhealthy way, I just want this season to end, so the next can start.

I have failed to see the work the Lord is doing in my life. I have failed to see the purpose in this season. I have failed to see the growth that comes from difficult seasons. I have failed to live in the present.

It's so easy to get caught up in our plans and ideals of how and what life should look like that we forget that we serve a God that isn't restricted by time. Time doesn't rule Him, it only rules us. I think that the enemy uses that to his advantage too. When we focus on wanting the slow or rush time, we neglect to focus on the present. We wish we could go back in time to change things or hurry time because the present isn't good enough. We think we know whats best.

Think about how much richer our lives would be if captured moments in our hearts and held on to them, but didn't allow them to dictate our lives. Or if we stopped wanting to rush time and just enjoyed each minute of each day to its fullest. I think our souls and our hearts are yearning for us to just slow down, take each day as it comes. I wonder if the stress and anxiety in our lives would calm if we started to focus on the present and being content with where we are, who we are and who we are with.

One of my best friends has the verse Ecclesiastes 3:4 tattooed on her arm, "A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance". Earlier on in Ecclesiastes 3 it talks about how there is a purpose in every season and a time for everything. Jesus doesn't forget about the desires of our hearts. He knows all of our hopes and dreams. When we trust Him with those, and allow Him to grow and develop them, it can be so rewarding. When we let go of our expectations of life, He takes over and trust me, He will blow your mind with what He has prepared for you.

I think that we do ourselves and the Lord a great injustice when we grow complacent with our lives. When we start having thoughts of wanting to fast forward, rewind, or wanting to be somewhere else or be someone else. I think its similar to spitting on Him, saying what He's given us isn't enough.

Embrace every season, embrace every moment.

Now, I don't mean that we shouldn't be excited about our futures, or reflective of the past. I mean that we shouldn't let them control us, we should L I V E in the present. There is a time and place for dreaming for our futures, its good to plan ahead. Its also so good to reflect on the past and learn from it. It just breaks my heart to see SO many of us living in the future or past.

I want to strive to live a life where I embrace every season. I want to allow Jesus to use my crappy, slow, boring seasons as an opportunity for growth and preparation for what is to come. I want the good seasons to be so full of joy that everyone around me is impacted by what they see in my life. I want to impact people to live their lives to the fullest and embrace every season. I hope my life can be a testament to that - embracing life, living it to it's fullest while building the Kingdom.

I love you all + I'm believing in big things for 2016

xoxo

- melissa