The New Year has begun, and 2015 has drawn to a close. It has been a whirlwind of a year, bringing several health challenges, such as sleep apnea and cancer, as well as several new joys, including the birth of your youngest daughter, Mercy Dawn Randleman.

2015 was a pretty good year, in spite of some of the challenges it presented. And even though it seemed pretty overwhelming at times, our faith in God was strengthened and his hand on our lives was obvious yet again. Here are a few of the more memorable events from the past year:

• Our church family has become even more like family as we have grown to know them better.
• I continued my studies for my Master’s Degree, although somewhat sporadically.
• After my wife’s broken ankle healed in 2014, I was diagnosed with both severe sleep apnea and skin cancer in 2015.
• Our newest daughter was born in February, and has grown considerably since then.
• We have striven to move closer to a complete debt free status, and have gained some significant ground in that endeavor.

Our year has been pretty crazy and hectic. On top of all of those big events, life has continued in normal fashion in many ways. We have seven children, and each of them is busy in various ways. Our oldest daughter is a cheerleader and is involved in many other school activities. Our next daughter is in dance and drama, and our oldest son is taking musical lessons. Add church and community activities, and we have a very busy schedule most of the time.

Each year, and multiples times throughout the year, I evaluate my life, my dreams, my goals, to make sure I am on track and headed the direction that I believe God wants me to go. I use a Life Plan that I developed for myself a few years ago, and strive to live the best life I can in several priority areas.

Each year, I also evaluate my writing and blogging, to see how I am growing in those areas as well. I believe that it is important to know where I have been, so I can have a clearer picture of where I am headed.

Here is a brief synopsis of 2015:

• I added 151 new posts throughout the year. This is lower than previous years, but not completely unexpected.
• However, I experienced a steady growth of visitors all year long, increasing significantly over 2014.
• I experienced my best month ever in January of 2015, with the other months only slightly behind in traffic to my site.
• My top posts are widely spread out over the past few years, some newer, some older, indicating that I continue to write content with staying power.
• My readers came from 176 countries, more than any year before.
• Once again, discussion on posts stayed about the same. Increasing comments is a goal to strive for in the coming year.
• You can see the full WordPress report here.

Here are the top ten posts from 2015, including the date posted, and the number of views that it received throughout the year:

1. How To Take Notes While Reading The Bible (August 30, 2013 – 11,368 views)
2. 6 Characteristics Of A Good Communicator (August 20, 2013 – 9,626 views)
3. The Difference Between Purpose, Vision, and Mission (May 27, 2011 – 5,223 views)
4. My Current Philosophy Of Ministry (May 6, 2011 – 1,737 views)
5. Why You Need To Develop A Philosophy Of Ministry (May 4, 2011 – 1,595 views)
6. Trying A New Bible Reading System (January 18, 2012 – 1,158 views)
7. 7 Steps To Defining A Purpose And Vision For Youth Ministry (October 12, 2011 – 1,012 views)
8. Tips For Becoming More Consistent In Your Bible Reading (January 26, 2011 – 894 views)
9. 3 Characteristics Of A Bad Communicator (August 13, 2013 – 701 views)
10. 11 Things I Love About Field Notes Brand Journals (July 8, 2011 – 697 views)

Although nothing from the past couple of years made this list, content from 2015 does start showing up at number 14. That’s okay, because it seems like most of my writing takes a while to build enough momentum to make it to the top of the reading list. On the other hand, some of the things I’ve written in years past continue to be read. People are continuing to read my material.

One of my goals in 2015 was to write more meaningful content. With no posts from the year making this list, I see that I still have much work to do to succeed in this. I will keep on trying throughout 2016. Some of the challenges we faced are likely part of the cause for this, but I will still strive to improve myself.

It would be very difficult for me to choose which of my content was most meaningful to me. Most of the stuff I write is because I need it in my life as well as having the desire to share it with you. There have been so many things I’ve learned this year, and many of them have found their way into a post or two. But if I had to select something that was most meaningful to me, it would have to be my series examining and memorizing the book of Philippians. I’ve gained so much more insight into this short letter than I ever dreamed. I hope to compile these posts into a book in the near future.

And in 2016? I’m wrapping up Philippians and moving on over to 1 Peter. This letter has so much practical wisdom, it will be a challenge to me as I learn more and more from it.

I’m excited to see what the coming year holds for JeffRandleman.com. 2015 has been a great year. And I’m certain that 2016 will be even better!

Thanks for traveling this road with me throughout the year. I look forward to connecting with you even more in the coming months.

Question: What has been your favorite part of JeffRandleman.com this year? You can leave a comment by clicking here.