(Disclaimer: I went back to look for a post about my word of the year for 2022 and couldn’t find one. So here is a recap.)
Last year was hard. It was one of the most difficult years I’ve ever faced. I won’t get into all the details, but I faced things I would never want to go through again or would want to see anyone else go through. Looking back, I struggled most of the year. When I read from the Psalms, I can relate so much. Psalm 40 was one that stuck with me this past year. I felt I was in the muck and mire. It is only recently that I feel some solid ground beneath my feet again. And that only comes from God.
“He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”
Psalm 40:2
Last year my word was Learn. It was definitely a year that I learned a lot. The biggest lesson I learned was about God’s faithfulness, how He uses His people in the world around us, and about relationships. I say over and over again: “Life is hard. God is good.” And I wholeheartedly believe that. In the hardest of the hard, God showed me that He is still good.
During the toughest part of this past season, for about a month long, I literally had someone reach out to me daily - letting me know they were praying for me or thinking of me, sharing scripture with me, and just encouraging me. I know it was God because because it was constant and it was “random.” When I say random I mean that it came from all different sources, some people I interact with regularly and some I rarely do, some were complete strangers. It was almost always “I’m praying for you” or a scripture passage. Sometimes it was in person, a bouquet of flowers, a text, a phone call, or even a random Facebook message. I wish I would have recorded each of these because it was such a powerful way I saw God work. Not only did He use His people to minister to me, but I also saw their obedience in listening to the Holy Spirit prompting them to reach out to me. I also felt their prayers, interceding on my behalf, when I just didn’t even know what to pray.
I learned many lessons this past year, but the toughest lesson came in learning more about relationships and friendships. I had people stand beside me that were close friends and others were just acquaintances or even strangers. I also learned some hard lessons of who I thought would be there for me, but weren’t. I saw a quote on social media recently that said something along the lines of how hard it is when you realize you weren’t as close of friends as you thought you were - when someone else doesn’t value that friendship in the same way you do. I’ve learned that some friends are here for a reason, some a season, and some a lifetime. The reasons and seasons are hard for me. Once I open myself up, I’m committed. But that’s not how all relationships go. It does make me especially thankful for the life-er friends. I’m thankful for those friends that are willing to be open and honest with me. The ones that speak truth into my life and sometimes have to say the hard things to me. I’m thankful for the friendships and relationships that encourage and build me up. I’m thankful for friendships that go both ways - where we can spur one another on. In all of the hard lessons of relationships, I am thankful for the friends that were just there for me. Thank you to those of you who showed up, who just listened, and encouraged me along the way.
There were a many other lessons learned. It was tough! “Learn” is a not always a fun word because it can be hard and unexpected lessons. But it can be a huge way to grow, too!
All this brings me to 2023 - click here for the next post!
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