highlight reel 2015: reflections on a year of unexpected blessings.

Inspired by Sports Center’s Top Ten Plays of the Day, here is a list of my 10 unexpected, favorite blessings for the year 2015. Feel free to reply below with your own or encourage others to write down their significant moments over the last 12 months. I love to recount all the amazing memories and milestones of our lives, celebrating them through our thankfulness!

10. Returning back to nursing – After working in full-time ministry at a church at the beginning of this year, I felt God calling me back to nursing about midway through 2015. I made the transition back into full-time nursing “ministry” in August. What a joy it has been to work with close friends (others may call them co-workers) and make an impact in soldier’s lives as they go back to their families after illness or injury.

9. Financial blessing – God has been so faithful in our financial situation this year, even allowing us to make some exciting, big purchases for our family and ultimately, take steps towards what Jeremy and I feel to be our lifelong call to provide a place of community for others.

8.  Grandma beating cancer’s butt – I could not have been more blessed by my grandmother’s journey through chemotherapy and healing in her life. What an example of perseverance and dedication she exemplified for our family and the hundreds of friends impacted by her story!

7. Spending the summer on an extended vacation – This past summer was unique in that both Jeremy and I were home with Jeremiah and Lilly (and not employed). Both of us felt God asking us to make changes to meet the growing needs of our family. This was such sweet time to invest in our marriage, our future, and our children. I know I will always look back on these few months of our first year of marriage fondly. Not to mention, we got to see our extended family often and a lot!

6. Following my dream to write more – Thank you for supporting and encouraging me to continue writing in this venue, even if it is not nearly as frequent as I would like. I have a passion for sharing other people’s stories of inspiration and impacting the world through words. It has been an honor to step out with all of you behind me.

5. Building and investing in the friendships around us and reaping the fruits of the most amazing support system we could ever ask for – This past year has been filled with twists, turns, ups, downs, unmet expectations, surpassed expectations, disappointments, and celebrations. Whether through tears of joy or tears of sadness, there are people we can call who will be by our side in an instant. Jeremy and I learned that we have friends who have become family, or “framily” as we lovingly refer to them. You know who you are. And your unfailingly love and kindness for us is absolutely invaluable.

4. Getting to know my new Rivera family – One of my biggest blessings of the year is gaining another family and getting to know them. It blows my mind to now have not one mom, but two. I’ve always wanted a sister and now I have three! God consistently exceeds all we could ever desire or imagine. Now I know, you haven’t lived until you’ve had Carolyn’s potato salad or Carol’s arroz con gandules or Lorena’s turkey…

3. Watching my extended family embrace my immediate family – I’ve always felt my parent’s unconditional love and have learned all I know about loving well from them. However, nothing could have compared me for the way they (and my entire family) have welcomed their step-grandchildren into our lives. From incorporating them into our traditions, praying for them, and celebrating them, I’ve learned more about generosity, grace, and love this year than I ever have in the past. Seeing Jesus modeled within my own family has been one of the most profoundly moving experiences.

2. Becoming a {step}mom – If given the opportunity to write a novel, I still wouldn’t have space to share how much my heart has come alive since being given the responsibility of being a stepmom. Daily, I remind myself Jeremy chose me not only as his wife, but has entrusted me to support and compliment him in his role as father to these two incredible kiddos. I do not believe there is a bigger honor to bestow upon someone.

1. Becoming a wife – Wow. I am never at a loss for words, but when it comes to describing the gift I have in my husband, I don’t feel like I have the right ones. I cannot express my thankfulness for the way he pursues me, the way he pursues his children, the way he models healthy friendship, the way he provides and cares for his family so effortlessly. I am thankful most of all, that he leads our family with grace through situations even the most experienced dads/husbands struggle to grasp. When I signed up for marriage, there were a couple things I didn’t know were in the fine print {both difficult and amazing}, but I wouldn’t change a single part of these last 334 days.

Looking back over this past year, there were plenty of opportunities to choose to see the negative before the positive, the hurt before the joy. Let’s be honest. Seeing anyone in your family with cancer is heart-wrenching, but when we ask Him, God can give us the {eyes to see} how He wants to use even our painful experiences for His glory. I challenge you in this upcoming year to seek eyes to see God make beauty from ashes and His new mercies each morning!