A New Year is About to Begin; A Glance Back Over the Last Several Years

As I sit here this evening typing I am amazed at what God has done in my life over the last several years. I do not want to go into all the details of my past, but let's just say it wasn't the greatest life. Many said I would not live to see 16 and once I did, I would not live to see 21, and once I did, I would not live to see 25, but now I am half way through my 28th year of life and wow what a transformation God has done.
Most of my teenage years I spent time being very angry at God for the family I was born in to and at the age of 15 I thought it was time for my life to end, but God did not allow that to happen. He let me touch the edge of death, but not any further. At that point I realized apparently God had plans for my life that I did not know about. I barely graduated high school, went off to college to please my family, but came home with a 0.00 GPA to prove that I did not want to be there. I had to live and learn for awhile. Life sucked for the most part, but I was learning some very important and major life lessons.
Low and behold a month after I turned 22 God brought a wonderful angel into my life. Her name is Laura. This coming August we will be together seven years and married 5 of those in July. She is someone who has truly loved me through all of the ups and downs of life, she has stuck by my side, and has never given up on me. Who would of thought when I turned 21 that in a year I would find my soul mate, my life partner, my one who would push me beyond my limits. We may have met in a bar, but God knew what he was doing. We both had faith and we both wanted to discover a deeper relationship with Him, so we began that journey together and wow, how we have been blessed through out our relationship. In 2004, a month after we got married, and close to our 2 year anniversary we began the journey of school together. It is hard to believe that in a year I will be posting about our graduation! It is only because of God that we have been able to get through these five years. Who would of thought that a couple could go to school full time, neither work full time, but yet we were able to buy a house and our bills are paid, maybe a little late, but they are paid and we are provided for. The lesson I have learned is, I may not get to do all the things that I desire or get all of the material things I desire, but the things that are important are provided. God never lets us go without, we may not have much, but we have it.
These last several days all I have been able to think about is God gave us an incredible gift in such a small package, His child, and gives us incredible blessings all of the time in ways we may not even see and yet people (myself included) want to complain that they don't have this or that, but what about the most important gift. The gift of eternal life with a Savior, one who died for EVERYONE, but yet so many people want to say certain groups of people are excluded from this gift. I just have to stop and say thank you God first for creating such a perfect child and allowing him to die to save all of us. Second I have to say thank you Jesus because of your obedience and for following the call on your life. Now my prayer becomes that all people can find their calling and follow it and not question what You have in store for them and their life. I know that school was the place you put me,so I could grow and learn and follow the calling that has been placed on my life.