For those of you who lived with me through Volume 1, thank you for being here again. For those of you who are new here, this is my personal journey with God. It's not in any specific format and isn't a tutorial or a guide, just a Child of God finding her way through faith and life. All I hope is that you find something in here to cling to and help you on your own journey to our Father—the one true God. The Great I AM.

From a young age, I've always felt compelled to share my life, thoughts, testimonials, and stories. I only know that my story will one day reach lives and make a difference. That it will even bring my enemies to faith because they will realize that only God could have done for me what he is doing. It is a big thing, and some days, it's easier to live with that promise than others.

I am just a person. Bogged down by a lifetime of habits and sins, finding my way to God through every day. Having to remind myself a million times that I am a child of God. That it is not upon my strength that I have been saved. Nor by anything I could do but by Grace. I can only thank God that his mercy is new every day.

For those who don't know me, I've been through some stuff the last few years, but it was all with a purpose, the edges of which I sometimes see more clearly than others.

But, going through the breaking down of 2022, the grinding to dust of 2023, the rebirth of 2024, and standing before the promise of 2025 was a journey I survived only by the grace of God.

The breaking down taught me that God is good even when the night is at its darkest. That sometimes the past needs to be torn away, and what harms us needs to be taken from us so we can start with a clean slate. Even if that is the house we grew up in, the friends we depended upon, and who we thought we were.

The grinding to dust taught me that not by my strength but by His strength, I am saved. That I can TRUST in Him to provide in all of my needs. That He loves me enough to bring me to my knees and tear away all my defenses so I can admit that He is God and He alone is God. That I am not the god of my life. That I can surrender myself to him and be free of the mountains and chains that kept me living the same circles of defeat for most of my life.

The remaking. That one was sometimes as painful as the previous two seasons. Getting me to let go of the things that corrupted my thoughts in the past is a process. It is so easy to fall into old habits, but God doesn't just let us drift into those patterns. He brings us back time and time again, helping us go forward. If we let him, and before the breaking down and the remaking, I wasn't ready to let him. I didn't hear his voice or see his presence in my life because I was blinded to it. I fought him and didn't realize it. Until He took the fight from me, and I bowed my head before Him.

Rebirth. Being a new creature in Christ is a clean slate for our sins but it doesn't magically make us a different person overnight. It is a process. Carrying that cross is a process. Holding on and allowing the light to shine in us and through us to drive away the darkness is difficult. It was never meant to be easy. Some of our sins follow us, and even though we pray to have our afflictions taken away, sometimes fighting the darkness keeps us honest. It reminds us that we live in the Grace of God and that we need him to fight the fight for us. Sometimes, defeat teaches us that we need God for victory to be permanent, yet the temptations do not go away. We can choose to fall, just as we can choose to get up and reach for the hand that is always ready to save us. Just as we can choose not to take the paths we had already traveled down and no longer want for ourselves. Faith is a choice we make a million times a day, whether we realize it or not.

Every day, we get up with the best intentions, but sometimes we fall, and sometimes we do things that shame us, but we are not alone. As long as we keep our eyes on Jesus, we can get up again and lay ourselves at his feet. As long as we allow the Holy Ghost to speak to us and tell us what is right and wrong, we will find our strength again in our God.

My life went from having lost everything and not even having a place to live to having a safe harbor, friends that are children of God, and a new life. A new job. Publishing my books and living my dream of writing full-time. And it was all the work of God's hand. He answered my prayers one by one, and I believe that the ones that are left (and the promises I received) are already in progress.

2025 is the year of promises and multiplication. The year that God's promises come to bear fruit in my life. Although only He knows how my path goes and what that means or how it looks, I trust in Him, the almighty God. My Father. My Friend. My Mentor. My Provider. My Anchor. My Way. My Light.

But I must admit, the dark has been trying to shake me the last couple of weeks by praying on my weaknesses and trying to steal the promise of what is to come from me, but God has a plan for me, and He will keep me safe.

I pray to You, Lord God, to guard my thoughts and my dreams from the evil one, in Jesus's Holy Name, amen.

I will be victorious because He is fighting for me. And 2025 will be a new dawn in my life. The first chapter in a new volume of my life. That is why I chose to make this volume a new book and end the previous one. It is the closing of a door and looking forward while taking only the lessons of the past with me. The knowledge gained every day from the Holy Spirit as a guide and a reminder.

Christians are not perfect. We are just people with a perfect God. Saved by Christ, made new, and on a journey to our promised land in the next life with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. But, like all other people, we sometimes fall short, and only Grace keeps us going.

I will begin this new year with thanksgiving.

Thank You, my God, for what You have done in my life and for saving me from myself and my past. Thank you for providing in my every need and for answering my prayers. Thank you, God, for loving me when I could not love myself. Thank you, God, for giving me the strength of the Holy Spirit, when I had none. Thank You, my Father, for taking me back even though I was far from You for so long. Thank You, Way Maker, for making a way where there was none. Thank You, Promise Keeper, that You kept Your promises to me, even though I have broken so many promises in my life. Thank You, my King, for listening to me, although I do not always listen to You or hear Your voice. Thank You, my Savior, for being perfect in every way because I am far from perfect. Thank You, Almighty God, for hearing even small prayers. Thank You for being there for me when no one else was. Thank you for showing me how You work inside the hearts of Your children. Thank You for giving me the tools through your Word to be a better person. Thank You for Your Living Word that shows me Your true face. Thank You for forgiving me my sins and washing me clean of my past with the blood of Christ so I can come into Your presence. Thank You, God, that although I am not yet who I will be, I am not who I was. Thank You for being You, Lord God. I ask your blessing over my life in 2025 and over the lives of those You brought to this page to read this. Let this book serve its purpose in Your kingdom as You see fit, Father. Your will be done, Jehovah Jirreh, and not my will. I praise Your Holy Name and give thanks to You, Lord God. I thank You, in the Name of Jesus, that you chose me to be Yours.