All Kinds of Nostalgic

So because I was tired as all get out last night from hitting up the golf course, I'm a day late on this post. Regardless, it was such a great day that I have to share it with all of you.

P.S. For those of you who have joined me in this revamped blogging expedition, THANK YOU! I do hope you're enjoying it as much as I am. :)

As we've all come to know, social media has dubbed the fourth day of the workweek as #ThrowbackThursday. Whether it's through photos, videos or a written post, we all share what we missed back in the day. And for some odd reason, so many things were coming to mind.

...like this place.

...these people (and how incredibly awesome my long hair was!)

...and this song (and for that matter, all of country music in the 90s).

That second photo, I found while browsing through all of my pictures on Facebook. When it got to the section that chronicled my four years of college, I was drowning in feels (side note: I've loved this phrase for a while and am trying it out...so bear with me [and 'feels' are, obviously, 'feelings']).

Whoever "they" are, they weren't lying when they said that college would be the best years of your life. (But I'm not staying still in life--I do believe that better things are yet to come, but I enjoy reminiscing about the good ol' days every now and then.)

So I'm getting to the last of my photos, and for some reason, this one particular picture isn't showing. Everything else is on the screen, and I'm getting a bit curious, so I decide to click on it. And what I found was something incredible, something that God had crafted and planned for the past near-decade.

In that moment when the photo was taken, I would have told you it was to be a glimpse, a hope of what the future could hold for me. Even in its initial timing, I couldn't have prepared myself for the way that life would have unfolded--the exact opposite of what I wanted.

In the past when I would look at that picture, I would be embarrassed or upset that what I wanted hadn't come to pass. Embarrassed by the amount of energy I essentially wasted, and upset that in the end, I would face rejection and the pain that came with it.

But yesterday, when I stared at the screen, I smiled. I laughed a little because of how young I looked as I recalled Springfield Belinda's excitement and anticipation tucked within that snapshot. After the emotional toll that I had experienced, I never thought that after all these years, I would be okay with the outcome.

I ran to my prayer closet, because I had to thank God for healing this past hurt.

I had to ask Him to forgive me that it took WAY too many years to overcome this trial.

I wanted to praise Him for allowing me to be able to finally move on.

And again, I had to thank Him--because had I gotten what I wanted, I wouldn't have been able to be a part of and experience so many things that He wanted me to know about.

Those little blessings came to mind, and I felt an overwhelming peace flood my soul. It's the spirit and presence of God...and I wanted it to consume me. One of the lyrics from the song I'm singing on Sunday says, "Let His power, within you, heal your heart"--and in this moment, it did.

And I couldn't rejoice over it more.

So call it Throwback Thursday, or Thankful Thursday (like I did in my post), it was just a great day--even if I was a mess on the golf course last night and my mind is struggling to juggle softball and golf (which I don't think is possible, sadly).

...and with that, Birthweek continues.