On blessings of all types and appreciating the life in danger and afflictions...

 One of the best things that I could have possibly undergone this year 
(and perhaps through my whole lifetime) is the company of suffering 
and the abundant light and love that have sprung from it.

I thank Him, for every difficult knots I had to untie in the previous year. 

Every one of them were all challenges I did not imagine myself ever facing; 
and am I ever so lucky to have had the opportunity to undergo such storms.