New Year with New Things

So I haven't updated my blog in SO long.  Life has been full of ups and downs and curvy roads of unknown destinations.  I am delighted to say that I was accepted to a few different medical schools and still have one interview left [this week!].  I truly have been surprised by the outcome and blessed beyond my imagination.  At the beginning of 2011 I felt as if I was stepping into an abyss of unknown possibilities.  I have now titled 2011 as "Wilderness of the unknown."  I hoped for confirmation from God of the path I felt He was leading me on.  I had to walk forward in faith trusting that God had spoken to me.  My faith led me to decisions that seemed crazy.  2011 was definitely one of the toughest years of my life, yet also one where I learned more about God's character, which I am so thankful for.  One thing I said (but feel horrible for) was "If I am walking in God's will, why do I feel so alone?"  I was basing that statement on circumstances that did not go the way I had planned.  The MCAT was my nemesis and I had to take it THREE times!  I had to wait SO long for interviews, and the first one I got was in an unexpected location.  Although the circumstances did not unravel the way I though they would, and many times I felt alone, I knew deep in my heart that God was working his plan.  There were a few unexpected obstacles along the way I faced that almost made me give up.  Road blocks that didn't make sense or brought me to my knees in fear and sorrow.
2012 feels a bit different so far.  I believe that through the wilderness and waiting strength was gained and courage was formed.  I came to know a resilience that I didn't know I had.  I have been learning about the Patriarchs in the new testament (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives) and have really been trying to decipher what God could teach me through their lives.  So I landed upon the life of Sarah, Abraham's wife, and the woman described in Proverbs 31.  I know I will never live up to the qualifications of the woman in Proverbs 31 (I will never make all my family's clothes, lol) or Sarah, for that matter, but I've learned that those women exuded strength, dignity, and courage.  The Bible says "You are Sarah's children if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening" [1 Peter 3:6] and in Proverbs 31 "Strength and dignity are her clothing and she laughs at the time to come."
So my goal for this year is to allow and ask God to help me "put off my old self and be renewed in the Spirit of my mind" so I can be a person clothed with strength that laughs at the time to come, not fearing anything that is frightening.
There is so much that lies ahead of us- for me and my husband.  It would be so easy to get chained up by fear.  I was led to this verse today "Behold I am doing a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." [Isaiah 43:19]  May we forget our past and hardships of former times and press on to the hope God has for us in 2012.  New things!  May we trust Him who holds the future.