Ten minutes – all that is left of 2017. I sit struggling with mixed emotions as this year slowly drifts into the past making room for a new year of unknowns. Actually, I’m sitting in the very same location I rang in 2017, but what a difference a year makes…..
Most years I spend focusing on goals or resolutions to attempt in the new year. Maybe you do that too.
Not this year.
This year end I am taking time to reflect on all this year has taught me and thanking God for His many blessings.
Several huge events occurred in my life this year:
- Precious friends, my niece and youngest daughter followed the Lord in baptism.
- I lost 75 pounds.
- Death and illness invaded our family.
- Hurricane Harvey brought 3 ½ feet of water in our home.
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Trust me – there was no shortage of opportunities for frustration, bitterness, anger and self-pity. I would love to share with you that I succeeded beautifully at maintaining a calm and pleasant demeanor while encouraging all of those around me – but I can’t.
At times the stress of another decision, another loss, another hurdle seemed almost unbearable.
Yet each time I felt on the brink of madness, something or someone crossed my path and reminded me God was still in control and was working out everything for good.
So I sit now reflecting on what I’ve learned this year.
This is what I’ve come up with.
I’ve learned (or was reminded) God is 100% faithful in every circumstance and situation. He truly never leaves us. There are too many moments to list of His love and sweetness, but I will share one very special moment with you.
We were blessed to return home exactly three months to the day that we had boated out after Harvey. This happened to fall during the week of Thanksgiving. There were still numerous projects to complete and a massive amount of cleaning to do. Holiday seasons I find myself missing my daddy a little more than usual. I had been thinking about how much I would love to sit and talk with him and get his wisdom on this roller coaster year.
While cleaning out the room where we had stored all the boxes of salvaged flood items, I was relieved to come to the last one. I didn’t recognize any of the contents of this particular box and sat for a moment to look through it.
The box contained my daddy’s senior high yearbook, some photos, and some yellowed paper brittle with age. Carefully removing the paper, I discovered I was holding a typed story my daddy had written over 40 years ago. I had never seen this story, but could certainly imagine him sitting at the old metal manual typewriter; the one where the ribbon was constantly requiring rewinding leaving traces of black sludge on your fingers. He was the fastest typer I knew and only used his two index fingers.
As I began reading his words, my heart beat a little faster. He had written this at Thanksgiving time over four decades ago. I smiled remembering the sweet family time he mentioned. It felt as if he were writing this just for me – for just this time in my life. To make it even more relevant in my current life, the story included a specific phrase that was the title of a Bible study I was currently writing.
Of course the story talked about Jesus, because that is what daddy wanted for anyone he ever met – for them to know Jesus.
And what more is there?
Words of wisdom from daddy – reminding me when we know Jesus, everything will be okay. Doesn’t mean we won’t go through the hard stuff, but it does mean we won’t go through it alone.
The perfect lesson to end 2017.
I’ve attached daddy’s story in the link below. Hope you enjoy and feel free to share.
This, as most of your blogs do, brought me to tears! Thank you, again, for sharing from your heart!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights. I appreciate the reminder that God is always with us and will take care of us in the good times and the bad.