The End that's the Beginning

There have been a lot of moments in my life where I have reached an end that I never thought was coming. The end seemed so far off but really it was just around the corner. Like:

• High school graduation, realizing what I had known for 12 years was over. 
• When I got off the plane in China, I never thought I was going to get there. All the preparation that the trip took, I thought it would never come. 
• When I had my first conversation in Chinese. I had been there for over a month. It was at a little shopping market I went to every day to get food. I was stunned, and I'm pretty sure the lady was stunned too. 
• The first batch of bread I cooked while in college. I think I tried about 7 times before they actually turned out. 
• Learning to drive a stick shift. 
• Trying to figure out how to manage a budget. 
• Trying to figure out how to get around by myself without getting lost in St. Louis
• Graduating college. Going into the "real world" after 4 years of classes, exams and late nights that I sometimes didn't know if I would make it through.

Those are just a few examples that come to my mind when I think about 'ends' in my life. Really though, they were new starts. They all led to something else. I had another end today, that will just lead to another something else. I finished the last class in foster care. Really, I wasn't sure if I was actually going to reach the end. There were some Saturdays I would have rather slept in or when I asked if this was really what I was supposed to do. But, I finished. Now it means the real work begins. Actually getting placed with children, and not just children teenagers! Well, it'll be a new beginning, yet again. I'm excited, nervous, anxious and a slew of other things. Yes, I know there are verses for those things in the bible and believe me I probably will wear them out just by my eyes running over them, if I haven't already. But, though I know there will be struggles, I know there will be great victories. There's going to be MUCH learning through these next steps in life, I mean there already has been. But, I look forward to sharing them with you. For now, I finished this leg of the race, I can't wait for what the next will be!