50 things I learned in 2008

Julie at Mirror of Grace decided to blog on the fifty things she learned this year, and I decided to do the same. I'm sure that just like me, Julie has learned many more than 5o things this year, but these are some highlights.

1) How fast the kids grow up.
2) How easy it is to gain 15 pounds.
3) How hard it is to lose it again.
4) Why Weight Watchers says, "the meetings are the magic".
5) Who my real friends are. Again.
6) How absolutely black with depression life can get.
7) How Jesus and friends can help.
8) How limited I am in finding solutions.
9) How vast God's resources are.
10) How wise the counsel is of my true friends.
11) How betrayal can sting even when you thought it couldn't affect you that bad again.
12) How God uses a myriad of sources to heal us.
13) How fun it is to teach a class on apologetics.
14) How fun it can be to teach piano.
15) How much I love to TEACH, period.
16) The fact life really isn't worth living if you aren't going to be real.
17) People who are worth being in relationship with are okay with you admitting when you're a wreck.
18) How freeing it is to have left the politics of ministry totally behind.
19) That things will get better even when you can't imagine in your wildest dreams how it will come about.
20) How valuable covenant relationship is.
21) How Africa finds it's way into one's heart and melts it.
22) How much closer we are to Jesus' return.
23) How much more sinful the world is getting.
24) How much greater opportunity there is for revival!
25) How much I loved snuggling with my family.
26) How important daily time with the Lord is.
27) One piece of dark chocolate every day really is good for you.
28) If you are depressed, saturating yourself in worship is a must.
29) Everybody can't be in your front row.
30) You can't be truly close with someone who doesn't share your core values.
31) God picks busy people to do important things. He typically doesn't go hard after lazy people.
32) Speaking something is very important. Speak it - give power to it.
33) When life gets hard hang on like a hair on a grilled cheese sandwich.
34) If someone walks away they were never truly with you in the first place.
35) I lose the most weight when I eat soup and half a sandwich for lunch most every day.
36) America would be better off to "take tea" mid-day like a lot of the rest of the world.
37) I am absolutely wild about animal prints. (I was wild about them before they became so popular, just FYI.)
38) People who are depressed can't just "snap out of it."
39) People who tell people to do that should be strangled or at least have their mouth duct taped.
40) Sometimes obedience to God has to be enough.
41) There's never a right time to do the wrong thing.
42) Emo people are people after God's own heart.
43) "All of us are smarter than one of us." ~ quote by Rick Warren. I've learned my friends come up with solutions I would never think of. Oh how valuable they are and how important it is to drop my pride and ask them for input. (Wouldn't have made it without you this year, my friends!)
44) Life is hard, but God is good. True story. More than a cliche.
45) It's much easier to eat than to face what's eating us. (But it doesn't work.)
46) Sometimes you just have to stand up for yourself. Enough's enough.
47) Share wisdom with people. If they don't listen, let adversity teach them.
48) I love listening to podcasts.
49) To everything there is a season...
50) Being alone is a blessing if you like yourself.