“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”-Ephesians 2:10
This week I turn 27. I can’t believe it. It feels like just yesterday I was leaving for college and now I am 27!! I’m not going to lie, I have had some trouble accepting the aging process. I’m hoping the day will come when I can embrace it and get excited about being another year older…but I’m not quite there yet. As another birthday comes, it does make me think about the life I have lived and all the blessings God has given me over the last 27 years. I think of all of the fun times I have had, the places I have been and all of the people in my life who are important to me. The older I get, the more I realize what is truly important in my life. It puts in perspective what I am living for.
When I think through my life there are so many random memories that make up the years of my life. I think about what an amazing childhood I had. I grew up in a comfortable house in the perfect neighborhood with the best group of friends a person could ask for. Things were so simple then. I loved the school I went to, being able to walk home without being scared, playing with my neighbors until it got dark, going to the pool every summer, tons of slumber parties and being a part of every extra curricular activity imaginable. I look back with only fond memories. I was truly blessed in the way that I grew up. As time passed, I 
think of the fun road trips I took with my youth group. They allowed me to see parts of the US I would have never seen otherwise, as well as setting foot in another country for the first time. College was the best four years of my life. Here is where I finally found my place in the world and met people that would be in my life forever. For the first time I was a part of something special. I traveled off of the continent for the first time and discovered my passion for travel, photography and art. I learned about friendship and hurt. This is also where God first broke me, stole my heart and taught me what it meant to truly worship Him. I can never thank God enough for all that He allowed me to do during this time. Since then I have learned about people. I have realized what makes a true friend, how important my family is and that settling for less than God’s best in anything should never be an option. I discovered my love for Africa and for the unloved around the world. I have realized that money ultimately doesn’t matter, and if I am living for anything other than the complete glorification of the Lord than I am not living for the right thing. There is no in-between. I could go on and on, but these are just a few of the highlights of the life that has made me the person I am today.
I am so thankful for my parents. I am thankful for my dad who has always been someone I have looked up to. When I was little I loved sitting on his shoulders at parades, standing on his feet while we danced, walking our dog through the neighborhood and him teaching me how to play softball and tennis like a champ. As I have grown older, my dad has become my sports partner, someone I share my love of the beach with and someone who can always make me laugh. He taught me that a true gentlemen still pulls out the chair for a woman and makes her feel like she is the most important person in the room. I share his love for life and his need to make everyone smile. I am also thankful for my mom. One of the greatest blessings in my life is to have a mother who is one of 
the Godliest women I know. I look up to her and can only hope to be as close to the Lord as she is. When I was growing up she was the one who was there to play games with me, spend nights at the ballpark with her “Caroline’s mom” t-shirt on, clean my scraped knees and always be there when I needed a hug. As I have grown older, my mom has become my best friend. She is my spiritual confidant, my prayer warrior, my encourager, the person I look up to the most in the world and the woman I can only hope to be. I share her tender heart, her love for people and her lively spirit. I could not ask for a better mother and friend.
I’m so thankful for the friends God has put around me as my support system. I have learned so much through the years about what true friendship should look like. I realize now that is isn’t just about people you have fun with, it is about those people who are there for you in the tuff times. True friends are those who can build you up in the Lord and draw you closer to Him. Those that can be there to encourage 
you and pray for you faithfully through the good and the bad. True friends are those that are loyal and even though they have busy lives will take the time to pick up the phone just to check on you. They are those who realize how special you are and actually take the time to show you that they realize it. Those that put others above themselves. Those are true friends. I am so blessed to know some people that fit this description. This past year I have realized how much it matters to have people like this in my life. I cherish them more than they will ever know, and I praise the Lord for them!
As another year passes, I am so thankful for the life the Lord has blessed me with. It hasn’t always been good or easy. I have certainly seen my tuff times, and I will see many more to come. But through them all, God has molded me into the woman He wants me to be. It is about taking every 
situation and asking God what He wants me to learn and then applying it. I don’t ever want to look back on my life and realize that I let so much time pass that I wasn’t serving God with everything I had. I don’t want to get to heaven and realize that I have nothing to show for my life. I want to run the race to the fullest and glorify God in everything I do. That will be when my life has actually mattered. Not when I have a lot of money to show for it, not when I can retire early, not when I have a big house, not when I have lots of friends and not even when I do community service. My life will matter when I have given EVERYTHING to Him and proclaimed His love to everyone that I meet. That is the goal, and that is what I am aiming for with my life!
For His Glory,
Caroline 🙂
Ps. 56:3
