That’s a wrap, folks!

Today is my birthday! 

My best friend says that we (she is 3 months older than me) have entered the last third of our twenties. 

Yep, I am 27 today. I am hopeful that this year will be something special, looking at the past two years, this year will something to tell the world about. The desires of my heart have been granted in the past two years. 

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”-Psalm 37:4 ESV 

Those desires have been planted in my heart from August 24, 1995. 

I have always dreamt of being a writer. When I was young, I couldn’t wait until there were people who would read what I write. In 2020, a year stricken with grief and heartache, I became a published author!!! 

Dreaming with God doesn’t mean you have no hope of the thing happening, but it could become a reality. 

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.”-Proverbs 12:13 

In June of this year, I was offered another writing gig making me a freelance writer. Never did I think I would be writing in two different places. God doesn’t have to try to meet our expectations, but blown them out of the water!! 

“God can do anything, you know-far more that you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”-Ephesians 3:20-21 (The Message paraphrase)

The Wednesday after I got that writing opportunity, I was asked out on a date. My first date ever! Fast forward to the middle of July and he asked me to be his girlfriend!! It has been the best yes, I have said so far. That would be the second desire of my heart to be in a relationship. 

My life is playing out like a movie and I rather like it. I expect some big blessings in my life this year! 

“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.”-Isaiah 43:19 NLT

Keep Swimming

Two months ago, my life was going so well- there was a new boy I was talking to, my friendships were thriving- in essence my life felt like it was on easy street. I woke up to August and the other shoe has dropped. 

I kind of wish I could go back to the Mary Hannah of two months ago, but this storm I’m in necessary for growth and maturing. 

“Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.”-Proverbs 4:25 ESV

I am the kind of person who will hold on to things-friendships, crushes, relationships in general for FAR TOO long. In the end, they will hurt me. I have been learning how to let go and let God, however it is easier said than done. 

As believers in Jesus, we are not guaranteed an easy life, but we are assured that He is with us in the storm. 

I really want to go back to the Mary Hannah of two months ago, but God did not make us to go backward. He made us to walk forward in Him and not look back at the things of the past. 

“…Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.”-Philippians 3:13b NLT

Being an adult sounded fun when I was a teenager, now after nearly a decade of adulting, I’m over it. Where is the door I open to go back to childhood?? 

Adulthood is scary, but I am glad I have a hand to hold while I am standing in the storm. 

“Don’t be afraid for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strength you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”-Isaiah 41:10 NLT 

A hand that can calm the waves around me.

“The disciples were amazed, ‘Who is this man?’ they asked. ‘Even the winds and waves obey him!’”-Matthew 8:27 NLT