Changing Seasons...

The prospect of warmer weather and the change from winter to spring has excited me lately. It seems like the change has happened over night. All of the sudden the trees are in full bloom and the depressing icy winds are becoming less harsh. All this reminded my of how quickly I am passing into another season of life. Today I realized just how many things in my life have changed in such a short amount of time. It's hard to believe that only 5 months ago I was just a 20 year old college student, working two part time jobs, going home on the weekends, helping out with Jonathan's youth group on Wednesdays, and spending time with Jonathan and other friends in my spare time. How things have changed! Now I'm 21, working a new full time "big girl" job, rarely going home, two months away from being a married woman, and my fleeting spare time is filled with showers, wedding planning (all that it demands), and trying to spend time with my close friends as much as possible before my life is drastically different (in a good way of course!). Jonathan and I both are working/serving at Ridgecrest Baptist Church now. I am so excited about it! He is working with the Highschoolers and I am the ministry assistant for the youth and preschool ministers. I can't wait to see how God develops this new stage in our lives. It feels as drastic as the barren trees being overtaken by the spring flowers, but can't help but feel like my life is more beautiful than it has ever been these past few months. Not simply because I'm getting married or because I'm having fun planning the wedding. I see the beauty in how God is taking two very different people and knitting them together, two becoming one and becoming stronger together than apart. It's beautiful. I have loved every single moment and am thrilled by all that is changing. I don't really know what all that my "spring" will entail, but I can see, more clearly now than ever, that my life is being shaped for a purpose. All of this is just the start of the beginning, the first signs of spring, and who knows what will be in store for us. I am blown away by God's grace and mercy. I have received so much more than I deserve. I've been spared from so much I do deserve. I am new and constantly becoming more so. My this time of change testify to my Makers greatness and the grandeur of His ways. They are so much better than my own!