2009

i suppose i am just about 18 days late on a recap post of 2009. but cliches have never stopped me before, so i suppose i could write a brief summary of my life in the past year.

it's funny to me to read the posts that i was posting around this time last year, most arguably so my 2008 recap. month by month i recalled the mishaps, emotions, and stories of each month. all chronicling a selfish life that..to be honest..had little to do with God. it's funny to have these posts to remind me of someone who i used to be...someone God is making new. i guess you could say 2009 is the year that God won me back.

the opening hours of 2009 were pitiful...perhaps some of the worst hours of my life. ya know that phrase "how you start your year is how you will end it"? i'm glad to say (this is a foreshadow) that how 2009 started and how it ended were polar opposites...not only in my activities, but in my soul.

i have come a long way. Christ called me back in April...called me out of my life of sin...out of a life of lies and shame...and into a relationship with Him, free of the burdens of sin. i'm sure you've heard (or even said) a sentence like the previous many times. so had i. but i never understood it until He called my number. ya see, i had been living a life in secret, a life behind lies, and God had a different plan for me. not just because He hated sin, but more so because He loved me. He knew that these lies would always get between us because i let them. and i finally let them go.

i always thought there was freedom in lying. i could be anyone i wanted. my family could be this ironic ideal. my dating history could be an overflowing black book. my life was a compilation of shenanigans. but on the other side of truth, i've found a new freedom. to be who i was created to be.

in the past year i've been in 21 states, including a 9-week stint in alaska. God is showing me a world that needs some restoration and asking me if i want to be a part of his mission. for a girl that's always said no, i'm finally saying yes.

God has blessed me with some amazing roommates and a house that i don't deserve. on top of that i'm a part of a group of freshman girls who are changing me every day, and i bet they don't even know it.

rachel woltjer is yesterday's news. i'm ready to be a part of something bigger.

2010 started right where it should...in the fellowship of 22,000 missional college students singing praises unto God. it's a bit daunting to launch my first year of full submission to my purpose - the one set out for me long ago.

God is good. and i am not. I can't wait to tell of the amazing things that He has done...one year from now.