To New Beginnings...

    January 1st has many anticipated expectations. Some are met, some are disappointing, and then some are just anticipated for the sake of the feeling of a new start and challenge. There is something magical about the night before a new year begins, despite the fact that we never look at January 31st or any end of any month as anything but the end of a month. This leads me to wonder why it is that we (as in humans) decided that the month of January is the special month to start fresh. That December would be the end of a year and we would celebrate that along with the a new beginning. Is this all created to help motivate people? To create such anticipation that people feel empowered to be better, to be dedicated, to refine their life and to make good on promises to themselves and/or others? Looking at the media and seeing how many people got engaged last night, or how many people posted their New Year's Resolutions should show you how much New Years means to people and how motivating it can be. On the flip side, these expressions can also be seen as an invitation to connect and hold accountable those who are posting and declaring their new challenges and life changes. Beginnings are important, but in order to carry them through we need to rely on someone/thing to help us accomplish our goals.

    Regardless, there is still something special about being able to see life through a temporary and new lens. sometimes it just takes a little alteration in how we think to make an impact on how we live life. When we find out we have a purpose, a challenge, or an assignment, it tends to simplify our life by giving us something to focus on daily. We now feel like we can accomplish our goal because it is our focus, we are no longer floundering around trying to make a difference, or even wondering if we ARE making a difference. We are on our way to say in the end that we made a change in our lives, because we accomplished our goals. If it was as easy as that, we would be a very accomplished group of people, but then again, nothing would be as rich or valued with out going through tough times of faltering, or feeling weak/unable. I believe God creates passions and challenges specific to our personalities to one: draw us together, and two: draw us into a more passionate relationship with Him. 

    Any new beginning has it shiny appeal. When we decide to embark on a journey of  any kind; whether through self discovery  or any type of change or alteration in our lives, we are bound to need support, community and flexibility. However, a lot of times we will go into a challenge thinking that we can make anything happen/work, by just being who we are... because after all we are awesome and have the super ability to specifically accomplish any task on our own... God knows this about us, He created us and knows our weakness and our strengths, He knows we need to be in community because of this, we need relationship. However, He also knows the plans He has for us, plans to prosper us, not to harm us, plans for a future and hope. I believe if we really just took each day to understand this, we would be more successful in our obedience... and more purposeful in our interactions with life. 

    Chau and I took this into consideration with moving to a new state. We knew there would be challenges, that we would be leaving family and friends, as well as, have to adjust out of our comfort zones to make friends up here. We knew that we were going into this move on faith that God will provide for our needs and that we would be refined individually and as a couple. We knew that even though I had no job lined up prior to the move, (despite the 8 months of searching) he gave us hope in our future. He allowed us to anticipate a new beginning, one filled with empowerment and a focus to find our purpose as a couple and to be changed. We were going to make a difference.
      Now that we are up here, we are... being changed, stretched, hopeful and feeling empowered. It is approaching a year (9 months...holy moly), and I can say that there has been significant change in our life, a refocusing and a major faith challenge that has led us to deepen and strengthen our reliance upon God. This stretching has caused a chain reaction that has renewed our minds, and transformed us. I can not really pinpoint when this happens, but can appreciate the depth of understanding that flows from going through things that are out of my comfort zone. This experience, declaration of a new beginning and faith walk we embarked on has resulted in an ongoing conversation with our creator and a greater empathy for those around us. The best part is we just had to be willing, and dream with God in order to feel like we were promised a new start (regardless of the month or year) to our life together.
   Blessings for this new year, and may you all dream with God daily, be encouraged and purposeful in your relationship and reliance on Him. We are thankful with excitement and anticipation to see what plans He has...Here's to 2014!

~Jess & Chau

Jeremiah 29:11