New Year, New Plans
It sounds like 2024 was an interesting year for many. Myself included. Unfortunately the events I experienced in 2024 still leaves more to be done in 2025. Am I alone?
The year of 2024 started out full of opportunity and a fast paced lifestyle. I was thriving in my role as an Engineering Project Manager and had been given a project resulting in traveling every other week to California, sometimes back to back weeks. While I enjoyed the travel and the excitement of being on this large project that would hopefully positively impact the company I work for, the controversy with the contractors and the financial gaps identified became exhausting quickly.
Prior to my joining the team, contractors had been selected, budget had been set, and timeline had been promised which is every project managers nightmare. Nothing is worse than taking on work that was started by someone else. While I had worked with these contractors in the past on a project at a different site, that project had a budget significantly less than the budget of this project and not as critical of a timeline.
I was originally only supposed to lead a specific phase of the project, but my organization skills became crucial as I helped the team align on budget practices, organization of the timeline, and communication with the contractor. However, even after putting all my common practices in place, communication with the contractor continued to be difficult, budget was blown, and the there was no way to meet key milestones on the timeline.
All that to say - it was a stressful project.
BUT I have always been a person to feel the need to excel and find a solution when others are unable to. While this drive to succeed has helped me do well in my career, it has also drained me quickly and resulted in multiple experiences of burnout.
All that to say, I prayed my way through it and successfully helped the project continue to drive forward. Pray paid off and finally midway through the year I was informed that my focus would be redirected towards a new project.
This new project was at the beginning of the development phase, it would result in less travel allowing me more time at home with my boyfriend and fur kids. I was really looking forward to this.
Unfortunately, the weekend prior to what was planned to be my last travel week for the old project, my townhouse caught fire.
My boyfriend and I were at dinner when my neighbor called and informed us of smoke alarms going off at his townhouse which is right next to mine. Luckily, we were not far, but we ended up following fire trucks all the way back to our home. Upon arriving to the townhouse we were able to get my dog out before the fire got too large. Stupidly, I ran in the house and tried to rescue my cat, but I was unsuccessful. My boyfriend and the firefighters both got me out before I was able to get ahold of him.
I will never forget watching my home go up in flames, not knowing if my cat was going to survive.
I sat on the curb, in shock, praying to God that my cat would survive, and the fire would be put out soon in so much shock that I couldn’t even shed a tear. After almost four hours, the smoke had cleared and the firefighters found my cat alive in his typical hiding place in a bathroom cabinet. The garage was a loss, the kitchen was a loss, and the rest of the house had severe smoke damage.
Walking through that house and being told to grab important items and things that you would need for the few days was a very numb experience. An event like this really makes you reconsider everything that you found important in your life. I am grateful I had my boyfriend with me to help determine what was necessary to grab. After almost 8 hours, we finally found ourselves at my parent’s house, still struggling to shake what we had experienced.
We bounced between hotels and Airbnbs for about 3 months and are still not back home after over 5 months. While everything in my townhome has been cleaned out, we are still waiting on reconstruction to truly begin. The most difficult part of this process is trying to understand what my homeowners insurance needs to cover versus what the HOA’s insurance will cover and then working with two sets of contractors to get the work done.
But, I thank God, my boyfriend, my dog, my cat, and I are all safe – that is the most important.
The excitement of 2024 did not stop there! One month after the fire I noticed that I was a few days late. After taking a test in our Airbnb, my boyfriend and I realized we would be expecting an addition to our family that was not planned. I have always wanted to be a mom, but not at this moment. Not without a home and not while we were both trying to build our own businesses.
Seeing those two pink lines, I was reminded of this verse
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
Proverbs 16:9
I also thought of the well-known quote that says “when we make plans, God laughs”.
Fortunately and unfortunately, this is not the first time that I have gone through traumatic and difficult events. Throughout 2024 I had been busy writing my story detailing recovering from a Severe Traumatic Brain Injury while going to college to obtain my engineer degree and the challenges I experienced throughout my adulthood trying to succeed and find happiness on my own. In the end, I was able to find a secure and healthy relationship with God that has helped me become the stronger, more confident woman I am today. This relationship also helps me guide challenges like these that I am facing now. In a way, this fire and the pregnancy feels like God saying to me “you said you were putting all your trust in me. Now have faith that I have you covered.”
Add your email and follow me in Instagram (@dynamically_crafted) to learn more about the release date coming soon!
All these events of 2024 have resulted in more work to be done in 2025. I am determined to make this year successful and positive year despite the work that needs to be done. To do that, I need to trust God with the plan.
Many times in the past I have followed the typical New Years resolution trend. Whether that was to lose weight, finish my masters, get a better job, or eliminate negativity from my life. While there have been times that I have completed pieces of a set resolution in the past, I struggled to find complete success or understand the broader picture of what I was meant to achieve resulting in still having a void. An example of this is setting a resolution to lose 25 pounds, but only truly losing 5 because I allowed other things such as going to happy hour or trying a new restaurant get in the way of going to the gym or following my clean diet.
Remembering God puts things on my heart for a reason, I wrote them down.
Complete repairs on the house
Be active and take care of my body for a healthy pregnancy
Publish my book to help bring others to seek Him through my story
After I wrote this down, I prayed asking questions.
What is your desire for me to accomplish this coming year?
How am I meant to accomplish this?
What do I need to trust that you will accomplish?
I keep these goals and questions in mind every day when I talk to God and remain open to these goals to change or new ones to be added. He has already provided insight as to things I need to focus on beyond those goals including continuing to build my relationship with my boyfriend and work that needs to be done for my job as an engineer. I am still working on keeping my trust in Him every day – I am far from perfect. But I desire to keep the peace that I have obtained with including Him in my life and the success I feel He has planned for my life.
Continue along this journey with me as I share more about the fire repairs, being pregnant through the chaos, and most importantly continue to grow in my relationship with God. I am looking forward to seeing who I can connect with and who will find faith through my story. My book is planned to be released this year which will share more of my journey and how I finally found myself seeking a desire to build a healthy relationship with God.
Answer me when I call you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
Psalms 4:1 NIV
What questions have you asked God to kick off a great start to the year?
