Facing The Challenges

#1. A Christmas memory... from this year or years past.

#2. Biggest challenge you face this year

I'm really excited about this year, but it will definitely have it's challenges....

One of the biggest challenges for me will be balance and priorities.  If I'm accepted into dental hygiene school this year, I'll be juggling school (just shy of full time) and work (just shy of full time), so it's going to be pretty crazy.  Keeping my priorities in line will be hard.  Making sure my family gets the time and attention they need, keeping the gym I manage running smoothly, taking care of myself with daily workouts and quiet time with God, keeping my grades up, and managing our home will be almost impossible.  It will be a daily juggling act, and I'm sure I will make a lot of mistakes, but I'll just have to keep trying until I figure it out.

Another major challenge is the one that I face with my parents.  I shared recently about my parents marriage problems and my mom's addictions.  It's one of the most challenging things I've ever faced, and I've really been struggling with it.  It seems that every time I start to wrap my mind and emotions around one thing that's happened, something new surfaces, and it throws me for a loop all over again.  I don't know what to believe anymore.  It's a daily battle for me, and it's something that I'm having to put into God's hands, little by little, day by day.  I never thought I would find myself or my family in a situation like this.  The words of the new Superchick song, Still Here, sum it up for me -

Still here, staggering on, through the impossible

We remain, I can breathe one more day,

Still here, still fighting on, all we have is today,

Find my way to the beauty of one more day,

Still here....

One thing I've learned throughout my life, though, is that God will be with me through it all.  Despite the challenges I know I'll face, I'm looking forward to 2011.  I know that I'll grow through the hard times, and I'll come out of it better.