Merry Christmas & Happy New Year From the Fibu-less Writer of This Blog!

Merry Christmas!! How was yours?

With the biggest holiday of the year passed and a new year coming, I can honestly say that 2013 has been one of the biggest surprise years ever. Mostly everything that has happened was not part of "the plan" I had come up with when I graduated.

I was sure that I would go to a year of school at SUU, stay at DQ, continue to have a clean bill of health and to be cancer free, send in my papers for a mission and leave to serve. I was sure that although I had faced quite a bit, that was behind me and I was out of the woods. I was ready to be considered "normal" again and to not be the "guy with cancer" who fought it during his teen years in high school but then fully recovered, served a mission, and nonetheless was "normal."

But like all plans, it all changed. I had more extensive surgeries. I was back to fighting cancer again. I had to put the mission on hold and re-think what I wanted to do and how I should serve the Lord. My job would be too hard to continue with the condition my mouth was in, even after recovery. I found an easier, less crazy- so to speak- job. I changed my schooling timeline and prepared to stick around til after spring semester. I had to put the mission papers I would start in two months on hold.

To summarize, in 2013 I:

• Had more surgeries on my neck
• Deal every day with less teeth and a partially numb tongue
• Watched 90% of my friends leave on missions with no knowledge of when I'd be heading out
• Started a blog, writing on average, every week or two weeks, and have pageviews from places like Russia and the United Arab Emirates
• Took the spring semester off
• Left DQ
• Started a job at the hotels
• Became an uncle to another nephew
• Moved out into an apartment
• Continued on with SUU for another school year
• Changed my major about six times
• Went on a spontaneous family trip to California
• Postponed the mission
• Really thought about what I want to do with my life

It's okay that I didn't do what I had planned to do. Because that's life. Now does that mean I fall short? No, it just means that although I didn't accomplish what I thought I would have in 2013, I accomplished what my Heavenly Father wanted me to accomplish. I gained a significant amount for my testimony. I gained more knowledge of His plan and His love, and how He is always near me and always watching over. I gained things that I needed but probably wouldn't have been able to gain if 2013 would have been "according to plan." And I'm at peace with that.


So as you contemplate what your goals and ambitions are for 2014, I challenge you to add one thing that is on my list for 2014: I want to have faith enough that if a curveball is thrown my direction, I can react in a good way. If my plans for the future are altered, I want to be able to say, "Heavenly Father, I don't know exactly why, but I know you know why. And that is good enough for me."

If you ask me what the next year will hold, I have a few ideas of what I want the plan to be. But if that doesn't happen, if what I have in mind is completely the opposite of what does happen, I know that Heavenly Father knows what He's doing. I know I can reach the spiritual goals I set because He wants me to reach those goals. And as long as I'm getting better each day, each month, and each year, I'm happy with life and ready for what the future holds.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Keep running.