I'm embracing the New Year with open arms, but there's something about 2020 that I can't forget. Won't forget. Ever.
Photo credit: Markus Winkler
Happy New Year! If you're reading this post, then that means you survived 2020! Virtual fist bump coming your way. I don't know about you, but last year was one of the strangest and most tumultuous years I've ever experienced. All of the excitement I had coming out of 2019 was quickly interrupted by sadness and uncertainty just three months into the New Year. Who could have imagined the year we'd be in for: tragic losses, weeks under quarantine, months of remote learning, heightened racial tension and violence, and a circus in the White House. Ugh!
Yeah...2020 left a lot of people feeling hurt, salty, and cursing its mere existence. But as awful as things were, I find this past year worth remembering for a lot more reasons than the chaos that overshadowed it. I think every reason I could possibly list is really wrapped up in one: 2020 was the year I witnessed God distinctly show up in my life and in my family's life. It's not that he's never shown up before, but there was just something about the way he did and the timing of it all.
When the world went into panic mode, we had peace. Even though we didn't know what was going to happen from one moment to the next, we weren't shaken. God always found a way to remind us: 'I've got you.'
We never lacked anything. As a nation, we took a lot of hits in 2020. But as a family, God shielded us from many of those blows. Every need we had, from the very basic and beyond, God supplied and withheld absolutely nothing.
Our children excelled. Anxiety. Depression. Learning challenges. All the things we heard the pandemic could bring about in our children never came to be. Our children excelled academically, and while there were times when they made my husband and me crazy, their social-emotional well-being never faltered.
We experienced some of our greatest victories when the world around us seemed to be falling apart. It was like everything that had ever been held up, God brought it back to us and then some. We paid off close to $34,000 in debt which put us in a position to be able to sow into others -- something we've always desired to do, but were never really able to do, at least not the way we wanted to.
I don't share any of this to boast about anyone but the Lord. There was not an area of our lives in which his favor was not present. In the midst of a crisis he showed us his faithfulness. But it wasn't just us. God showed up for so many of the people connected to us, people who have run this race with patience and held onto his promises. THIS is why 2020 is a year I'll never forget. And this is why I can step into 2021 with an even greater level of excitement and expectation -- no matter what comes my way. Here's to a year of living intentionally, fully and expectantly. Happy New Year!