By Lois Hewitt

Blessings come in unexpected packages.  Gifts of love appear out of the blue.

My life has been a series of missteps, bad decisions (not all but a lot), self-preservation and outright ignorance.  Mistakes, as they say, I’ve made a few.

As the years rolled on, I became more and more aware that my behavior was no longer “cute” as it turned the corner to pathetic. 

By then, the habits were ingrained. I had no willpower to change or knowledge of how to.

That’s when the grace of Jesus stepped in.  Finally the day came and I had to face up to my true reality. It was not a good day.

But with His help I started to be aware of the addicitions and the compulsions. I learned my triggers.  I began to understand why I was who I was and how to improve that person.

I’ve said it many times, I became a new person. But that’s not a truth.  I’m still who I was but now healthier and working toward better.

That’s what life is.  I did not have the wherewithall in my youth that I have today. I did not have the tools I possess today.

All those misspent years where the training grounds for where I am today.

As the new year starts, we, as humans, tend to look back.  That’s fine if you don’t stay there too long.  There were lessons learned.

Look back only to refresh the lesson.  Most of us have already beaten ourselves up enough that we don’t need to keep doing that.  If you learned from it, and moved on from it…you are a Victor.

My life is in its new phase. I phase of uncertainty yet filled with more hope than I ever experienced before.

For most of my life, I thought if I ever got cancer that I would just curl up and die.  Well, I got it and I didn’t. It just goes to prove you don’t know how you will react until you have to react.

All that came before, steeled me for all that is to come. So goes life. All the lessons learned, all the experiences and all the mistakes work toward today.

Today I sit here humbled that I even made it this far.  That I did not alienate everyone from my life and that I am loved (which I didn’t see as possible for years).

My blessings overflow. Not in gold or trinkets but in care and concern.  Not in money but in time.

My faith has been tested and will continue to be.  Some days I’m a warrior and others I am a scared child. Some days I’m both. 

We have to learn to embrace life and all its uncertainties. Embrace the unknown. Have faith that there is a plan.

Some say it isn’t possible for Jesus to care about our small, insignificant lives. I used to believe that. But I don’t see it that way anymore.

Our lives are not insignificant. They are intertwined with all the lives around it.  My actions cause ripples that touch those I know and some I don’t.  The same is true of you!

Our lives together form a huge tapestry of patterns that are sewn together with everyone else’s. And Jesus is the tailor that puts it all together.

As random as it seems at times, there is a pattern we just can’t see for now.  You are important to this design.

Your mistakes do not define you. And you can always overcome, not by your strength but by His.

If you sit at the feet of Jesus, He will give you strength. He will not leave or forsake you. Truly “what a friend we have in Jesus” who covers us in His blessings.