The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.
— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Long-expected Party"
Where we’ve been.
A year of trials.
I won’t deny that 2022 was a year of great challenges in both my personal and professional life. Do many people have it worse than me? Absolutely. Have I been the recipient of many material and spiritual blessings? Of course. I have no desire to take these things for granted.
And yet, this doesn’t make the difficulties and hardships I’ve experienced any less real or painful. But I hope that, through God’s grace, I’ve become a little stronger and a little wiser for having experienced them.
The late Pope Benedict XVI once remarked how, when we trust in the the working of divine providence, even trials and sufferings always seem to work out for the best:
“I can often see that things which at first seemed irksome, dangerous, unpleasant, somehow at some point come together. Suddenly one realizes that it was good thus, that this was the right way.”
Recently my friend Jake from
shared on Twitter a Scripture passage that has helped him this year, and that will certainly be something I’ll be meditating on in the days and weeks ahead:Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. — (Romans 5:1-5)
A year of triumphs.
I’m so glad I launched this Substack newsletter last February! Through all the ups and downs of 2022, I found great solace in writing on this amazing platform, chronicling all my adventures in freelance writing and podcasting.
For a more complete account of what I’ve been up to in recent months, be sure to check out last week’s year-in-review post:
Where we’re headed.
I’m still working out a roadmap for this where to take Pageturning in the year ahead, but I’m determined to put in the hard work necessary to grow this newsletter into something valuable and meaningful for my readers.
A few of my ideas include:
Regular book reviews and monthly reading recaps.
Occasional longform essays on faith and fiction.
Exclusive podcast read-aloud of each new post for those who prefer audio content.
Launching a subscriber chat page to engage with my audience.
I’m always open to suggestions, so please feel free to comment on what kind of content you’d like to see from me! I’m looking forward to sharing this journey with you.
I wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year, and, until we meet again, “the Road goes ever on . . .”
Yay! Excited to see your work this year.
Happy New Year! I'd love to see book reviews and recaps.