Sunday Snippets: A Farewell to 2016!

Psalm 65:11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.

Psalm 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

Here we are, by the grace of God, at the close of another year. And what a year it has been! As the verse says, God crowns each year with His goodness. Today I'll be doing a recap of my year, both with this blog, and personally. I hope this year was a blessed and growth-rich time for each of you as well!

First off, I have some sad news and glad news. The sad news is that this will be my last "Sunday Snippet", as such. Don't worry, though! Lord willing I am going to be doing posts a couple times a week still, with at least one of them being basically what Sunday Snippets has been--a post based on a thought or idea from a passage of Scripture, and how it has encouraged me. :) I am not sure exactly what kind of posts I will be replacing them with, or if I will do a specific weekly post? I'm still working out blog plans for the New Year, based on the feedback I got from my recent survey. (Thank you so much to all who completed that! :)

This year's most popular posts were kind of a surprise to me as far as their order. I had several wonderful guest posts this year, that were towards the top in popularity! If you see one you missed before, you can check them out by clicking the titles:

5. Facing Crossroads

I think this topic is pretty near and dear to people's hearts. Everyone has had to make a tough decision before!

4. Through The Word in 30 Days

My journey through the Bible in a month.

3. In The Right Place at the Right Time

A wonderful guest post by Elizabeth.

2. Boredom is Illegal!

Another wonderful guest post by Kimberly.

And the number one post for 2016 was....

A Faithful Servant!

Like I said, that one really surprised me that it was number one, because it was a very short post about a good quote I found on Pinterest. Nothing huge. But you guys liked it. ;) I'm thinking about doing more of this type of post this next year.

January 1, 2017 is the one year anniversary of when Making Music for the Master was started. I was so clueless about blogging at that time; actually I kind of still am...but to those of you who still read my poorly formatted, not-too-well-written posts, and continued to encourage me in growing this blog, thank you so, so much. You are each such a blessing to me!

Besides starting the blog, in 2016 I have moved 2 hours south of where I used to live, thus not having to drive two hours to church every week. ;) How awesome is that?! Also, I love living in a bigger city...once I got used to driving in traffic. I transferred my job, so I now work at a huge four-story library instead of a one-level, quite small one. 

I took a trip to Oklahoma to see Kimberly, and had quite a number of firsts on that trip! ;) My first roller coaster. My first earthquake. My first time eating gravy over fries over a burger over Texas toast. My first time spending 30 minutes laughing at a set of magnets. (inside joke. I promise it was funny. ;) My first time ziplining. My first time going through a cave, 50 stories underground. It was a good trip. 

I turned 20...crazy stuff. My thoughts on that here.

I helped host a group of 20 from Alaska who came to help out with a mass outreach here. A highlight of my year, honestly: those few days were so, so special and fun! The day after they left, my dad, Mercy, and I went on a 10 day trip to Wyoming--another highlight. (It's been a good year with lots of highlights, what can I say?? ;P) Then we went to the missions conference at my home church. Always a blessing.

This holiday season I have applied for a full time job, spent a day in the hospital, got my wisdom teeth removed and laughed at my craziness afterwards, went to visit family in Oregon, and worked as a receptionist at the library headquarters. 

God has been so good this year! I think one of the biggest areas I have grown in is that of prayer. It has become more of a habit for me to pray throughout the day as I work on different tasks, etc. An area I want to grow in this next year is that of patience with my siblings. Some of them can be hard to get along with...who knew?! ;) 

My top favorites from this year?

Songs:

Mary Did You Know. Never a favorite before, but this arrangement...wow!

Jubilate Deo by Dan Forrest. Especially this movement.

Though You Slay Me. So pretty!!

Books:

Land of Silence by Tessa Afshar.

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare.

In the Field of Grace by Tessa Afshar...can you tell she is one of my favorite authors? ;P

Movies:

(Not endorsing everything in every movie. Or book, either. Obviously.)

Finding Dory. I don't care that everyone hates on the Disney sequels. I loved this! And I loved Cars 2, and I loved Monsters U, and yeah, just get over it. ;)

War Room. While I don't love everything about this movie, it was a really good encouragement. 

Ben Hur. I'm only putting this on because of how pleasantly surprised I was by this movie. I always thought that the Charlton Heston classic had spoiled me for enjoying any other Ben Hur. And while this version completely slaughtered the original storyline, as a movie I did enjoy it! There was a surprising lack of garbage in it.

As we ring in the New Year, let's not forget to take time to reflect on the old one, ok? Take some time to plan for how this coming year can be one of spiritual growth, most of all. I love New Years, because it is a time of gratefulness for what is past, and hopefulness for what is to come. Isn't it good to know that God is in control of your life this year? :) I love you all, and thank you once again for an amazing year with this blog. I hope to continue making music with you for as long as The Lord allows!

365 new days. 365 new chances to serve The King!

Love,

Mykaela