I have been blessed with 21 years on this earth... Even just writing that amazes me! I've lived an incredible life, and it is all thanks to God placing His hand of protection over my life to guide, change and mold me into the woman of God I am today. However, this revelation didn't come by a gigantic hand-written letter in the sky. It actually came by way of a Twitter picture.

I took the challenge thinking "Oh, look, a chance to post pictures of my happy self on Twitter. Yay!" But little did I know, I'd end up with a huge revelation. I searched through my photos, and found so many great ones. It turns out, I had so many photos of me being genuinely joyful, I had to narrow down my choices to only three! As I was narrowing it down, I took a moment to say, "God, thank You for blessing me with so many moments of joy!" I continued joyfully picking the right caption and making the moment perfect to post on Twitter...

But then I paused and started to cry. I took a moment to remember some moments that weren't so joyful. I remembered that 13-year-old me suffering from an eating disorder wasn't so joyful. I remembered that 15-year-old me that was in the hospital due to depression and attempted suicide wasn't so joyful. Even 20-year-old me who at one point desperately wanted to leave Bible college to return home wasn't so joyful either.

However, looking back at those moments of desperation; God was in each of those moments giving me a hope to cling to.

Without me suffering from an eating disorder at such a young age, I wouldn't have the testimony and the right to speak into the lives of women who suffer from the same issue as I did. Without my stay in the hospital due to depression and a suicide attempt, I never would have been shown my calling to work alongside the Deaf Community as a teacher and interpreter. Without me having my moment of desperation and wanting to leave Bible college, I wouldn't have become more confident both in my relationship with God and with also who I am in Him.

Each of these moments and so many more brought me back to the grace and redeeming love that God has shown me throughout my whole life. That's where joy comes in. Don't get me wrong, I have had some stressful situations this year. However, the year of 2016 has shown me to be the year of joy. This is because I have found fullness and contentment in Christ alone and truly learned to thrive in that truth. I know that the seasons coming up aren't going to be easy, and there's a lot that God has to dig up in me before He can grow some new things in me... But for now, I will cling to the hope of who He is and know that through all these things, I will choose to be joyful like James 1:2-4, which states:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."