Seven Years Ago and Seven Years from Now

With the holiday season just wrapping up, Christmas has come and gone again and we are starting a new year, I feel as though it has been a time of reflection and thanks.  However, in the midst of a storm, sometimes, it can be hard to see the sun. By this I mean, all of us go through difficult times in life, NO ONE is an exception to that.  But when you take time to reflect and look back at your life, you can see it is all in our reactions to those difficult times and that we found a way to find the sun in hindsight.

My husband and I have developed what we call the 7 year look back and look forward. (If you are only 18 or 20, this may not be as applicable on the look back portion, but the look forward should scare you a bit - in a good way!) Doug (my husband) and I will sit together and look back on our lives 7 years ago, and I frame the conversation like the following:"If someone came up to you 7 years ago and said, 'I can tell you what your life will look like 7 years from now...'" then began to rattle off the things that are currently going on in your life, would you believe them? Would your life look like what you have imagined and worked for? Would it be better or worse?

If that someone came up to me and said:
1. You will be working in HR for a large company
2. You will be married and have a amazing bond with your husband
3. You will have 2 brilliant and beautiful daughters
4. You will not be living in Illinois
5. You will have a budding career with potential to impact peoples lives
6. You will have an MBA
7. You will take your family to Disney World, several times...
8. You will study in London
9. Your faith will begin to grown again
10. Your family will be your rock and your core
11. You will go through some of the best and darkest times of your life to date, be prepared and remain faith filled

We are all provided a God given level of influence on the direction of our lives. Our lives were not meant to be lived passively - waiting for someone else to do or someone else to provide. It is all in how we react (or do not react) to situations that Life throws our way. We are meant to take active roles in our lives and be thankful for the journey on which we will and have embarked. I am so thankful, everyday, for the journey I have taken, and never alone. Have a little faith and you'll see...