Going on 19

(Side note: Sorry for the 6 day time lapse of nothingness to read)

I'm nineteen. As a great friend of mine told me - after wishing me a happy birthday -at 12:00 am on June 7th, "You've been alive for nineteen years." That's it? Why does it feel like much more than 19 years?

Besides the fact that I had to work a small shift that morning - I won't be bitter - my birthday was filled with sweet moments of joy, laughter, and fun. The lovely day involved a free grand slam from Denny's (hot diggity dog!), picking up a bangin' cake, and a great party - which was filled with hula hooping, good games like "Big Booty" and "Pterodactyl," and getting to eat the bangin' cake.

A moment of reflection: How was year 18? It was a sweetly broken year. Like any year, it had some really wonderful moments, days, weeks; however, it was a very HARD year (which can explain part of the time lapse of no posts and the fact that there's been a lot of going and going and no just sitting around and having the time to write up something). I had a lot of growing up to do, a good chunk of which I think had to happen prematurely. There were some tough lessons to be learned - some of which I am still learning - like how to only depend on Jesus, that I got to make my own decisions (and they are between Jesus and I, not I and the others around me), that I can't let the opinions of others affect me, that in some things I am going to be on my own, but that that is okay, and the list goes on. Coming into adulthood is not easy, and I've already had a crash course in it.

BUT, I'm not going to go on to say how HARD and BROKEN this year has been without mentioning the "sweetly" aspect and some of the wonderful moments. I have grown SO flippin' much, seriously. My relationship with Jesus is in a beautiful place where it was not a year ago. And I have learned some wonderful things, like that I want to go to college to study God's Word and ministry.

At sometime I should go a little deeper and share my eighteenth year testimony, but today is not that day.

What about year nineteen (this new age that I am adjusting pretty well to thus far, but only been for two days)??? I think this is going to be a beautiful year/age. Am I in a new season of my life? Not sure yet, I got to talk to Jesus about that one. However, I am ready for the challenges the lie ahead, which all mainly revolve around the fact that I will be going to college in roughly 2 months 10 days.

Year nineteen...hello.