If I had set out to write the story of 2012 on January 1st, there is no way I could have anticipated — or even dreamed  — of the blessings along the way last year.

As I got up early this morning to write, I realize the same is true for this New Year. Although my path seems certain, though I have goals and projections, hopes and plans, this year, like the last, will unfold with surprises and gifts as well as challenges and obstacles — and I have no way of predicting what they might be.

Here are a few of the unplanned surprises and blessings of 2012:

I started and grew a business. In January of 2012, I had decided to work with a couple of private clients in addition to my work with a leadership consultant. I had no idea how much I would enjoy the consulting work, nor how the business would grow beyond the consulting to include a team. I juggled work with my steady job and my own business for several months before taking the leap to a role of full-time business owner on June 1st.

God used my business to make a difference for others. In February, I started to see a mismatch between my capacity to deliver work (limited) and the work clients requested (growing). Through this,  I caught a vision that I could create a business to include meaningful work for others. Though I start 2013 with a team different from the one pictured in this post , I am grateful for the ways I have been blessed by the women I work with and the ways I know this work has made a difference for them.

We worked with amazing clients! I am daily in awe of the talent, character, expertise, generosity, creativity, kindness, and dedication of our clients. We serve some pretty wonderful people who have written difference-making books.

Relationships make me rich. I found the best and biggest blessings of 2013 in relationships, first with my family (these precious, growing girls), and with friends, new connections, collaborators, clients, my team, and all the online allies I’ve formed. Thank you! If you are reading this, you ave made my life rich!

Looking forward to a great new year.

Tell me something! What surprises and blessings did you enjoy in 2013? What are you looking forward to in 2013?