trust.

Today was a hot chocolate kind of day, slow and warm and sweet. Nothing extraordinary to speak of. No grand stories to tell, just a quiet contentment that wrapped each moment with joy. And with beauty and stillness, December crept in like a dream, and here I find it to be "the most wonderful time of the year" hardly noticing that it came. So much has changed since December was here last and so much is changing still.....and I am full to overflowing with how wonderful the changes are and how excited I am for the beautiful month ahead. Dear December, bearer of crystal starlight, dancing snowflakes, cold winds that dance about and whisper of Christmas coming. Promises echo on the air that it will not be "always winter and never Christmas" and Narnia seems a bit closer in the days this month holds close.

It's a strange thing, that this South Carolina girl has come to love winter so....though, the longing for the ocean's voice, salty marshes, and thick, warm, air never do quite leave. Still, here I am, never having planned to be here, trusting that He has purposed every, single, beautiful moment that my heart beats, and that there is a perfect plan for this season as well. December has consistently been the month the Lord has chosen over the past few years of my life to shift and move, push and grow every part of who I am...so, with it currently upon me, I'm looking and waiting for what might be just around the corner. For, life is never boring when walking along with Him. Ever.

And so, I find myself nestled away in this little valley that I call home, tucked into a small space that resembles more of a hobbit hole than it does an apartment and I am content and happy with these days that are full to overflowing. Life is sweet and beautiful and hard and I'm quite smitten with it really. It is true that this time last year, things were so very different, as they were the year before that and the one before that. It seems that with each year that begins to wind down, I find myself looking back and murmuring, "If someone had told me this time last year I'd be where I am now, I wouldn't have believed them!" And yet, this is the consistent pattern throughout the years that fly by so swiftly. The changes have been at times easier than breathing and at others seeming to steal away the very breath from my lungs with the pain they wrought, and yet still I can say, He is faithful and knows me far better than I know myself. For with each change, be it hard or easy, His purpose is ever engraved a little deeper on my heart, His love understood more and more, His goodness, His joy, His very heart opened and exposed to my ever widening eyes with each moment gone by. Yes, He is good. So, though I may not understand His timing or purpose, I don't need to, I only need to look back on His faithfulness over my entire life and trust....

If you and I were sitting here in this moment, I'd tell you the same thing for your life. That even though you may not understand why the Lord is doing what He's doing or why in the world He's chosen to let things happen (or not happen) in the timing He has, still just trust. Trust that He has your life in His hands, He sees the beginning from the end, and He will work every single moment you can't understand to His glory and for your good. Because, He simply loves you....so much...

© Jade Valcarcel 2012. All rights reserved