The Year of Faithfulness

Hello, friends!

First of all, happy 2016 to you all! Here's hoping that it kicks 2015's butt for you in every possible way.

2015 was definitely an eventful year. We had a baby, got intimately involved in the #blacklivesmatter movement at Mizzou, learned how to staff while also be parents, staff and Urbana (more on that later), and generally kept ourselves as busy as possible for most of the year. It was full, it was fun, and God was good (as he always is).

Many of you know that every year, I decide to create a theme for the year ahead. I had a coworker who would ask folk around their birthdays what their theme of the year was going to be. Since my birthday is early in the year, I usually start thinking about my new theme to kick in when the ball drops.

Last year was a year of thankfulness as I did my best to remember God's goodness on a regular basis. The year before that was the year of dependence and the year before that was the year of "Go big or go home."

As I was reflecting and praying over the past few weeks, the theme that kept coming to me was one of faithfulness. The more time I spent praying at thinking about it, the more this made sense. Even if you just look at my blog from the past few months, there have been many times where I've written about all the hats that I've been wearing and how it's been difficult to balance everything since I've taken on new responsibilities. I get the sense that this year, God is asking me to be faithful in the things that he has given me, which means being willing to let go of things that aren't mine. I like to tell students, "Own what's yours and not what isn't." It appears as though God is asking me to take my own advice. =0).

One interesting addition to this theme that's come up more recently is that I've found myself asking God to increase my faith. I'm not sure exactly how an increase in faith is connected to faithfulness but I'm sure they are related and I'm excited to see how it all comes together.

So friends, Happy 2016 to you all. May you experience more of God's goodness and be faithful to the things that he has called you to do.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam