365 days ago, I graduated from Liberty University.

Well dang.

Honestly?  It’s felt like so much longer.  “Time flies,” they tell you.  That’s true, I think, for the most part.  But not this past year.

The past 365 days have been daunting to say the least.  I’m 21 and I’ve attended more funerals than weddings, to give you a snapshot of the year.

What I’ve Learned:

Friendship

It’s been a rough 365 days, but in these 365 days, I have experienced the most beautiful friendships.  

Joy is a funny thing—it seems to appear nowadays when I least expect it.  

It’s been a dark 365 days, but I have had such sweet friends and family here along the way.

I think the darkest of times expose the purest friendships.  My community has come alongside me and my family and given so much of their time, energy, and resources to loving me and my family well.  Thank you for praying for me and my family.

I thank all, sincerely, who have shown up for me and my family. I cannot emphasize the depths of my gratitude towards you. This has been a gruelingly sweet year because of you.

Career

Fortunately, God has blessed me in this aspect!  I am a Technical Writer/Editor for an amazingly supportive company out near Virginia Beach and I am quite enjoying my work.  I have met the most wonderful coworkers and have had the privilege of working for an incredibly supportive company.  

My job has been abundantly understanding with the tumultuous circumstances and my coworkers have been encouraging amidst the chaos.  The support I have received from my company/coworkers has been a relief in a time of affliction.

Faith

Now, I could probably write PAGES on what God has taught me in the past 365 days, but I will attempt to keep it brief.

Above all, time is precious because life is precious—how we spend our days details much about ourselves. Family is precious. To receive the abundance of life, you must seek it and abide in it. God has taught me so much through discouraging circumstances and encouraging friendships: the idea of “community” becomes clear when people are bringing you dinner every night.

Even though it’s been a horrifically difficult year, I have been loved so well by those near me.  God teaches me to rely on His strength daily.  It’s a daily surrender, it’s a fight.

God is constant in an ever-changing world.

If I had known what these past 365 days would look like on May 19, 2019, I would have spent the past year in fear, dread, and despair, but God prepared me well for the endured trials.

Somehow, I am surprisingly optimistic about the next 365 days.  I pray for a season of abundance and joy and warmth.  This next year might be horrid.  It might be.  But even in the most terrible times, so many wonderful memories are made.  There is light and hope in this world’s harshest moments, and, even while this year was most certainly the worst/most difficult/saddest year of my life [so far], it’s been a beautiful year.

God is so, so good.