One thing I know for sure, is Your love for me is deeper than anything.

I want more than anything else, to run free.

I want Your fire to burn these ropes that bind me.

But I want to do it all in love.

I want to walk, speak, grow and abide in love.

Without love, we are unchanged.

Without love, we are unclean.

Without it we are still as the dust and mire that sit atop a cast away Bible.

We are the signs of aging and the dwelling place of stagnation.

We must replace the wants of our world with needs of its people.

And these people need love.

I'm carrying Your love with me.

I am Israel. He has ransomed me.

I once was Jacob, alone and struggling with God.

He wrestled me until daybreak and then took hold of my heart.

He has never relented.

Never ceased.

His love remains each and everyday. While the stones may be tossed my direction and the winds hurl me into the mist, His arms hold me tightly.

We struggle together, He and I.

He has formed me and called me Jacob.

But He has chosen me and named me Israel.

From within me, a powerful city of His love will be erected.

Through me, nations of fear will fall.

Because of Him, these former things have become new.

And I have become He.

Because He dwells in me, I am now Him.

As He richly builds me up, He breaks down the walls of my old city.

The old becomes new.

He is ransoming me, His Israel.

"For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, He displays His glory in Israel."

Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Was it not yesterday that I sat on the floor with my friends crying about leaving home?

Was it not yesterday that I moved all my belongings into a shoebox with a girl I did not know?

Was it not just yesterday that I began making friends?

Was it not yesterday that I met a boy who broke down walls?

And was it not just yesterday we were in love?

Was it not yesterday that ended a year it seemed had only begun?

Yesterday, was it not, when I had a cabin in the woods with glowing campers?

Was it not yesterday when I moved in with my three best friends?

Yesterday, when the door closed on first loves?

Was it not yesterday when my life was consumed with schoolwork?

It was only yesterday when life started moving so quickly.

And now, today is but another yesterday to come.

Though it won't all go the way it should, I know the heart of life is good.

I feel as though this year was but a moment. All the plans I planned and the dreams I dreamt, all were swept away with the tides of September.

And yet here, months later, I am wiser.

My soul has grown.

My walls have shrunk.

My heart has loved.

My fears have lessened.

My life has pressed on and because of that, because I am blessed to awaken each new day, I am a better being.

So here, on this last day of reality, I am checking into a week of chaos. I sit on the brink of finishing a year so vastly different than I thought it would be. I am so grateful for endings. Closing a door has never felt so refreshing.

While I cannot push away the negative effects of the past year, I am everyday more able to focus on individual blessings.

With each breath in, I feel a renewing of spirit.

With each second that passes, another of my dry bones dances.

With each blink, I see closure coming.

Life is waiting. I am ready to live it.