Looking back and Looking ahead

Well it's new year's eve, so i thought i would reflect on 2011 and look ahead to 2012. I'm not gonna lie, i believe 2011 has been the best year of my life...but with that there were a lot of trials that came my way. I would like to tell myself that i was faithful and i was a good servant but i wouldn't be honest. I wasn't being the christian that God was calling me to be, i was more like a zombie, alive but dead at the same time. I went through the motions and was not really conforming my mind to that of Christ. And then i finally joined the military and went to Paris island, SC. And i must say it changed my life more than any words i could ever tell you. I was stretched so much, and pushed beyond measure. And that's when i finally had a glimpse of what it meant to rely fully on God, and to give Him everything. I was constantly praying just to make it through one more day and i truly cherished every moment i had the chance to read Gods word. So i say all of that because i have realized its not when your in a season of good things and good times when you grow in the Lord, its when your broken and when your alone and the trials of life come your way, and your not sure what to do or in what direction you need to go. So, i have been thinking a lot of the things i would like to accomplish in 2012 or better yet what God would like to accomplish in my life. I'm praying for hard times, and i know that's crazy, but i also know that's how God is gonna mold me and conform me to His will. When the world sees me i want them to know something is different about me and not that I'm in the marines, but I'm a soldier in a different army! Gods Army! That's what this life is all about relying on God and not worrying about tomorrow but to stay faithful and know whatever comes are way that God is there walking beside us and that's something as a christian that will remain. It's not about this world and the things in it, its about serving God and storing heavenly things because that's where are home is if you believe in Christ. I am a servant of Christ, He owns my life and in 2012 all I want to do is follow Him and be faithful, so when the storms come i can hold fast, stand strong and be a light to a sinful world that desperately needs Christ.