The Destiny of One

2021

Wow, what a year. During Christmas this year, I realized how grateful I am for this year. I know that might sound pretty crazy to some people. This year has been full of challenges, but it has also been full of a lot of good things as well. This time last year, I was in pain all the time because of a pinched nerve in my shoulder. 2019 had been a rough year physically.

2020 started off filled with people and a lot of fun, even if I was in pain. You can look back on my post HERE.

My word for the year was hope. I wrote about this at the beginning of the year HERE. This has been my focus throughout the year. It became more important through some of the things that came my way.

The biggest thing I faced at the beginning of 2020 was the debilitating pain in my right arm. One of the hardest things was deciding what I should do. I prayed and was blessed by advice a friend who's a physical therapist and my parents. Eventually, I found an amazing PT who helped me find the problem, and over the course of eight visits was able to train me to deal with the issue myself. I'm pain-free! You can read some about this HERE and HERE.

Oh yes, and then the pandemic came. The lockdown came and it was hard, yet there were all sorts of wonderful things that happened too. You can read about some of them HERE. One of the biggest blessings for our family? Puppies! One of the hardest things...

I tore my calf muscle. It was the weirdest sensation. I was putting something up in my closet and it felt like someone had thrown a heavy object at my leg. I lost my balance and quickly pulled myself over to a chair. And then the pain came. For a few weeks, I was on crutches and couldn't put weight on the leg. You can read my post HERE. My healing has taken a long time. I still haven't been able to return to my morning runs.

Since I was turning 30 on the 30th of June, I decided to do something for each day of the month. It was a lot of fun. It really helped to, because it was hard to face turning 30 without being married. I'm not where I thought I would be but God has really blessed me. You can read what I did in my posts about my birthday HERE, HERE, and HERE.

I haven't posted a lot this year. I really struggled to have inspiration for any kind of writing, which was sad because I hadn't been able to write for so long I wanted to write and write.

Perhaps one of the most valuable things that came out of this year was the affirmation that I truly believe what I say I believe about God, His goodness, and His power.

Covid has made life hard and I don't always like the restrictions, but I believe that no person is in power and no event happens apart from the will of God. I rested in that fact.

I'm not where I wanted to be in life. I even cried some tears and asked God why I was still single. But at the end of the day, I know in my heart of hearts that everything that God has given me, and everything He hasn't is for my good.

With every challenge, while I haven't been perfect, I have remained faithful in the knowledge that God has a plan and purpose in everything. Nothing is a mistake.

With so much upheaval and so many Christians that were confused and struggling, I took great comfort in the solid foundation of my faith.

Now, shall we look at how I did on my resolutions?

Well, I have to say that this year, for once, I think that I can safely say that all of these can be safely checked off as at least progress was made

I wanted to work on these because I already knew that I was allowing things to rob me of joy and that was affecting my speech. As the year progressed, it became even more important than the joy of the LORD was cultivated in my heart. One of the biggest ways I worked on this was to curb my grumbling habit. The Grumble-Free Year by Tracia Goyer went a long way in giving me some strategies. Another thing that helped me is to spend time focusing my thoughts on Jesus. There is nothing like focusing on how great our God is to put our problems into perspective.

Both of these goals were achieved! It was fun to get so many books read this year, mostly from my to-read list on Goodreads. You can see my year in books on Goodreads HERE. It was very nice to have a bit goal to work toward when things were tough.

At the beginning of the year, with my first my arm and then a leg being out of commission (yeah, fun times), my family was amazing and served me in so many ways. Through the pandemic, we got a lot of extra family time and used it to it's full advangae. I was very grateful that I was able to see some ways to serve others, even though it looked nothing like I thought it would.

10 things

Top 10 Books of 2020 (Which is more like 11)

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Adventure Between the Pages

The Lady of Lanaria by Michaela Bush: A Review

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*post contains Amazon Affilate links*

Find it on: Goodreads | Kindle | Paperback

Age Appropriate For: 12 and up for violence, some mildly disturbing thematic elements, and romantic themes
Best for Ages: 13-25

Description: A kidnapped princess, a promise, and a kingdom cursed with mysterious plagues.

"Mark my words, Evangeline; if you set foot outside this tower, you will surely die."

Evangeline has spent her entire life hidden in an ancient watchtower, gazing through a window as the world passes her by. She heeds her mother's warning closely, the truth hidden from her always. When a young guard stumbles upon the tower, Evangeline's life is changed forever. As she strikes up a secret friendship with the guard, she learns about the Kingdom of Lanaria and the mysterious plagues that haunt all who live there. But as she delves into the world she barely knows, not everything her mother says adds up. Will they find the truth before it's too late?

A Rapunzel retelling

I was invited to the Facebook launch party for this book and it sounded interesting. At only $0.99, I knew I could indulge my curiosity. I snapped up a copy and downloaded it to my Kindle. A few days later, I was feeling bad so I listened to the book while I worked on a project and sat in bed (I love the Kindle Fires text to speech feature).

A couple of people mentioned magic in their reviews. As well as a few elements felt a little like Tangled at first. However, can I just put to rest both of these possible issues right off the bat? There is talk about a family of witches that used to live and the king had them killed. And there is never any magic actually used in this book. All the major characters will have nothing to do with even the hint of witchcraft as it’s offensive to God. As for the Tangled-like elements, they were superficial. The story is radically different and, in my humble opinion, far superior.

As a fairy-tale retelling, this book was really, really well done. It had classic elements but also twists on the original. It had a life of its own, yet tied to the original enough to satisfying. Bush has a talent for this, and I would love to read more like this from her.

The characters in the were well rounded. They are not the cardboard cut-outs of many fairytales. Even the villains were given motivations that made sense. They were not so complex that it ceased to be a light read, but enough depth to make me love each of them. I loved how both sweet and strong Evangeline was. She was so, so sweet, yet stood up to others for what she believed, even when it cost her. And her skills? Just endearing.

The plot was fantastic. I found myself flipping pages, ready to find out what was going on. I really feel that Bush did a masterful job with coming up with such an interesting and believable plot. I loved every minute of it. The romance was very sweet.

The only negative thing? I would say there were a couple of references that made me pause because they didn’t seem to fit with the time period in which the story was written. To be fair, this wasn’t set in any real time or place.

With all that said, I highly recommend this book for those who like fairy-tale retellings, sweet romances, and fantastic plots.

Adventure Between the Pages

A Penny Parcel by Avery E. Hitch: A Review

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Find it on: Goodreads | Paperback

Age Appropriate For: 15 and up (child abuse somewhat detailed and the emotional trauma of that is fairly detailed)

Best for Ages: 15 and up

Description: In the year 1910, Luke Tanner, an upstanding social icon in the quiet but politically powerful town of Galesburg, Vermont, adopts Ashley, an abused orphan girl. Because the cost of processing the paperwork is a single cent, orphans like Ashley are called "penny parcels," seen by society as only worth that much. But Ashley doesn't want a daddy, she would prefer to remain in the security of the orphanage, where her past can remain secret. Luke's wife, Grace, and their son, Wesley, try to love Ashley and help her break through the emotional walls around her bruised and broken heart. But her inability to live up to Luke Tanner's standard of performance, as well as her tainted perception of family dynamics, isolate Ashley from those who care about her the most. With both of them waging war on their own personal battlefields, Luke and Ashley collide. Their conflicts initiate a sovereign tragedy.

I was not prepared for this to be one of those books that tears your heart apart and leaves you feeling deeply satisfied down to the very core of your being. I had loved what I had read about the author on her website years ago (it’s sadly no longer up) and had placed this book on my to-read list.

This story is not for the faint of heart. Yet, if you have ever dealt with children either in foster care or adoption or known someone who has dealt with abuse, I would say this story will be something you won’t want to miss. The author does not go into a lot of gory detail about the actual physical and emotional abuse (which is not sexual abuse) yet it is hard to read about. However, the emotional trauma that is caused by the abuse is vivid so be aware.

While most of the story is told from Ashley’s point of view, we also get to see the story from her adoptive father’s point of view. Both perspectives are well written, deep, and realistic. I felt every drop of the fear and anger, the pain and hurt, the mistrust and desperation they experienced. The emotional tide of this book just swept me along from page one until the end, which is why I am so glad I read it on a Sunday and devoted a day to reading. It.

The spiritual value of this book is just amazing. You might think from what I’ve said before this that this book is sad and depressing. There were times when I thought it was going to be that way. Yet, the author built in the hope of our faith in a realistic and powerful way. It was a natural part of the story. When the breakthrough came, I almost wanted to stand up and cheer. As I said before, it was deeply satisfying.

This book is hard to do justice to in a review. However, it made me once again remember to show compassion to others. You never know what kind of trauma in their past is causing them to act the way they are. I only wish there were more books like this.

I highly recommend this book to older readers who want a soul-satisfying read, an emotional story that builds-up, or those who are interested in adoption.