new beginnings.

January is the month that everyone counts on to get them out of their bad habits and into new and better ones. Often, these hopes are crushed within the first few weeks every year. But that doesn't stop people from consistently believing in them. Hopes and dreams are good things, but the ones that are met sometimes not even what we had in mind to begin with. We expect things to happen, but sometimes our expectations for ourselves are just not good enough.

Sometimes our expectations of how things should be sell us short. Our expectations are things we hold on to to make us think that everything is going to be okay. The expected is safe. It's the unexpected that has the power to change your life. People are afraid of change, but everyone knows that it is inevitable. Without change, there is no growth. There is no endurance. And we all know that when things change and we stay the same, we get left behind. So what's worse? Changing or being alone?

God has been showing me just how great change can be. And when I do go through changes, I know that I don't go through them alone. I don't even have to ask myself which is worse, because neither of them are as scary as they once were. Moving on from something you once knew is always hard, no matter what the case is. But we have to face those fears and move past the darkness of life's disappointments and step into the light.

Sometimes things find you when you need them to find you. Sometimes they find you when you don't want to be found. No matter where you are, change will find you. I know it does me. I hide from it, push it away, and do everything I can to escape it. But it finds me every time. And when the chase is over, I end up feeling relieved, not disappointed.

Unexpected things happen to me everyday, and God is teaching me just how great they can really be. All we can do is live in the moment. And when things turn out differently than we planned for them to, that's when faith steps in. Most of the time, that's when I'm weakest. But that doesn't bother me, because I know that God is strongest during those times. These days, I look forward to the unexpected. Not because I'm confident in myself, but because I am confident that Jesus Christ has the power to bring me back up again.

O Praise the One who stays the same when nothing else does.