Just see how far we've come...

I'm pretty sure I'm close to bursting with the amount of positivity I have inside me at the moment!
I don't even know why, but I'm just feeling like I'm on top of the world, and that no matter what happens, everything's going to work out for good!!! There's something so satisfying about trusting God with your life... you don't know where he's going to take you, but you know he's got a purpose for it all. And somehow, circumstances, people you meet, and just things in general weave an intricate web of LIFE! You follow one strand in the hope that'll take you somewhere, and then BAM! Next thing you know you're somewhere completely different, except that it's like 100 times more awesome than you ever dreamed it would be!!!

At the start of this year, I never thought I'd be going to 3 different churches at once. I never thought my music course would take the format that it did. I didn't even dream of meeting so many amazing people in a few short months! I didn't even think I'd see that much of Beka, let alone have her move next door to me!!! I didn't know I'd learn how to play guitar with the top of a wine bottle, or even know I'd come to appreciate the blues almost as much as I do punk rock. At the start of the year I didn't know you could go into town, have a few drinks, NOT get wasted, and still have a good time - I didn't even know what apple cider was, let alone appreciate it's finer points. I didn't know that reading a few chapters of the Bible could change your life in more ways than you ever thought possible! I didn't know I'd end up in a Lifegroup which would become like a family to me! I had no idea I would gig more often than I ever have, and even appreciate the art of performing on a stage smaller than my room at the hostel. I didn't even know I could stay on a skateboard, let alone be buying a board longer than my guitar case! I didn't even consider being able to play Bullet for My Valentine, Tool, and Stevie Ray Vaughn! I didn't even think I could master the solo of "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix! I didn't think I would be living by myself for a week.... I didn't even know what a Hydrangia was. I didn't think I end up getting a job in a cafe with a few old friends from Dannevirke...
I hadn't even heard of Imagine Dragons, Bon Iver and Broken Records (who are now three of my favourite bands EVER!). I didn't know I'd be meeting Lydia Cole : ). I didn't think I could play anything more than four-chord songs on the ukulele. There's some people I thought I would see more of, and other's I didn't even know I'd meet who I hang out with all the time. There's songs I've written this year which have been so different from everything I've ever written previously. Six months later, and I still haven't found a band... but is that even important anymore? I feel sure that God has everything in my life IN HIS HANDS and he's a lot better at timing things than I ever will be.

Now that I look back, I can see just how I've grown. In a way, it feels like I've experienced even more than I have in the last six years! And I am floored by God's goodness, his mercy, his grace, and just how he has his fingerprint on all we do, and all we see. And how he is shaping us into his people.
And how it's all so, SO beautiful.