I recently listened to albums 68 and 69 of Adventures in Odyssey. (In my opinion, you are never too old to listen to Odyssey! I have literally been listening since before I was born!)
I thought the writers did an excellent job of conveying today’s struggles, without talking about a pandemic. They managed to talk about school struggles, missing family members and friends, and other issues without making it all about Covid. I appreciate them touching on some of the issues without making it into something that would date the albums to this time of history.
Below is one particular quote from one of the episodes that really stood out to me:
“Here is what I have learned about goodbyes...You say a lot of them in your life. Most of the time they'll hurt. I've found a few things that help though.
One is spending time alone with God and asking Him for comfort.
The other is knowing when you had the chance that you took advantage of the time you did have with your friend. Just looking at one another. Talking. Even saying nothing. I think it is significant that, when faced with death, Jesus spent His last night eating supper with His best friends."
: the state of being grateful: thankfulnessexpressed gratitude for their support
(Merriam-Webster)
Scriptures
(Underlines are my own!)
For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth...For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
John 1:14, 16
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.For
the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am
strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Do
not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Phillippians 4:6-7
(I love how this verse flows from my word last year (peace) to gratitude.)
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
It is March 1, and I am finally writing my "word of the year" post! If that doesn't give you an idea of how hard the decision was, I am not sure what will!
Typically, I feel God leading me to a word late in the previous year. But the last year has been different in so many different ways. So why not this, too!?!? I had a few different words running around in my head, but none were THE word. And as much as I wanted a word, I didn't want to settle and I didn't want to pick a word just to pick a word. I wanted to have conversations with God about the year. I wanted Him to lead me to the word, just as He has faithfully done over the past 5 years of choosing a word for the year.
A few of the words I contemplated were: Abide, Sabbath, Rest, Joy, Closer... But none of the words were working for me. All good words, but just not what I felt in my heart was right for this year.
As I mentioned in my goal post, I want to focus on growing closer to God. I want to be in prayer more. I want to be in the Word more. I want to be more thankful. I want to have a deeper relationship with Him. And I want to be a light that shines for Jesus!
At the root of it all, I wanted a word that shows how being a Christian sets us apart. What makes us different from all the world offers? What do we have to offer others that the world doesn't offer them?
Last year, God taught me so much about peace. About what peace looks like in my life and how to pray for peace for others. How to live in peace even in the midst of 2020, a year where so many of us struggled.
A few weeks ago, I was scrolling through Instagram and came across something that really impacted me. I follow this page called A Gilded Line. It is a company that makes hand-stamped jewelry (I bought my word of the year ring from them a few years back!). I came across this new bracelet and it said "Grace and Gratitude." When I saw that post, it struck a cord with me. It is not often I see those two words together, but there they were and it made so much sense to me.
Been thinking a lot about how gratitude changes
perspective & gives you ease of offering grace. These words are such
good reminders to focus on the things that matter & make an actual
difference in people’s lives.
Look around, be grateful. Name the things out loud. See how easy grace rolls off your tongue.
These are two of the ways we live our lives differently than the world. Instead of always looking for the next best thing, we are called to be grateful for what we have now. Instead of getting back at people or being unkind, we are called to offer grace...just as Jesus offers us grace.
So instead of one word for the year, God has given me a theme.
Grace & Gratitude
Even before God gave me this theme for the year, I could see Him pointing me in this direction. Earlier in 2021, He showed me how I need to show grace...even when I don't want to. All the way back to October of 2020 when I bought a 5 year journal to use as a gratitude journal, He was pointing me to this. (Note to self: Don't get stuck on one word when God might be trying to show you more!)
I am excited to see how God uses these two words in my life this year. I have already felt how hard it can be, but I have also realized how powerful God's grace is to us, to me. In the midst of struggling to offer grace again and again, I am reminded that God offers me so much grace every day. And in being grateful for what God has already done, I pray that grace will more easily come from me in my interactions with others.
______________________________
(I will post some scripture and quotes on my theme for the year in another post!)
It is almost the end of January and I am finally sitting down to share some goals for the year. I hesitate to make any after last year, but in the end, I think it is better to make them and not succeed, than to not make them at all.
So here are some goals for 2021:
Listen to the whole Bible Chronologically.
I am using the YouVersion Bible app for this and am really enjoying it. I actually started it mid-December am already 32 days in. I am not doing this quite every day, but when I do listen, I tend to listen to a couple days at a time. I have already listened to Genesis and Job and am now in Exodus.
Read the Prevail daily devo book by Susie Larson.
Again, not doing daily, but trying for 4-5 days a week.
Write in my 5-year Gratitude Journal.
Goal: 4-7 days a week!
Pray for my nieces and nephews (and other family and friends).
I believe the best thing I can do for my nieces and nephews is to be a praying auntie. I was reminded again this week how important it is to lift up people in prayer. (Go watch War Room!) I also was reminded how prayer changes you first and then the people you pray for.
For practical purposes: I wrote all my nieces and nephews names down on index cards and I plan to pray for a couple of them each day. I will pull out a couple random names form one jar and put them in another jar until I get through all the names and then I will start over.
I will also be using the book Pray for Me by Tony Souder.
Read 60 books this year.
48 fiction (about 4 per month)
12 non-fiction (at least 1 per month)
Get back to exercising more.
3-4 times per week.
Just being intentional to move and get my heartbeat up for awhile!
Be intentional about encouragement, gratitude, and being there for people.
After a year of not having enough connection, communication, and just time with people, I want to be intentional about reaching out to people. Not sure how this will look yet, but it is on my heart. I want to intentionally reach out to people and be authentic and real.
Some ideas:
Thank you cards
Notes of encouragement
Texts
Showing up for people (when not expected)
Bringing someone baked goods or meals
...
Fun Goals
Wear a dress or skirt each week
I love wearing dresses, but I don't much in the Winter because I don't like all the layers. This goal is to help me overcome the "I don't like wearing dresses in the Winter" and just doing it anyway!
Bake bread each week (Try new kinds)
Also have my sour dough starter going again!
Work on my graphic design skills!
And sharing my designs.
My goal is to break all of this up into monthly goals!
Word of the Year update: Short answer is I don't have one yet! I don't want to settle on one to just have one. I want to wait until I know that God is showing me a certain word. I have a list of them, but not sure if any of them are right. I am still praying about it and will post here when I have one for 2021!
Ahhh, 2020 is over. In some ways, it is a relief, in others, I am sad that a whole year has flown by.
Let's take just a minute to look back before going forward.
Last year, my word for the year was PEACE. It was exactly the word I needed in the midst of chaos and a trying year. God knew the word I needed.
Looking into 2020 last January, I didn't want to make a lot of resolutions because I thought other things were going on. (There was, but not what I thought! Or anyone!).
Here is what I wrote last year when I chose my word and thought about making resolutions:
In 2020, we have many commitments including politics, campaigning,
helping with the local homeschool co-op (I am also teaching this
semester), hosting a reader's retreat, VBS, graduations of close friends
and family, a major election, work, family, to name just a few.
Looking back, this how that turned out:
In 2020, we have many commitments including politics Yep,
campaigning Looked so different this year,
helping with the local homeschool co-op (I am also teaching this
semester) Until we cancelled in March due to Covid,
hosting a reader's retreat Postponed to 2021,
VBS Postponed to 2021,
graduations of close friends
and family Happened, just different than we would have guessed,
a major election Again, looked so different this year,
work Thankful for my job, looked a lot different this year,
family Time with family also looked different, to name just a few.
Funny how our expectations vs. what happened last year were so vastly different. Most of the above did not look like I would have expected. But somethings were even better. There were definitely things to be thankful for in the midst of 2020.
Here are a couple of the things we listed on our Christmas card this year:
A new niece born in January
Family vacation in July
My sister getting engaged and married
Fall family camping trip
Seeing "Noah" at Sight and Sound in Branson
Lots of produce from our garden (1st time in a long time!).
Technology
Friends and Family
Jesus!
And so many more.
Looking back on 2020 will always be hard, but I will try to find the joy, the blessings, and give thanks for all them. I will remember that God is always good and was and is with us always.
I think it is good to look back on the things we grieve (write them down and release them), but then to also write a list of things to celebrate and give thanks to God for how He is always working in our lives. Look for those God sightings! You might just be surprised!
I have been reading MaryLu Tyndall's books for over 10 years, but out of all of her books, I really like the books that are set on pirate ships, as this one is! This book was particularly interesting to me because it was a time-slip novel. Tyndall did an excellent job of maintaining the present-day story while "slipping" back in time to the pirate's story. I really appreciated the craftsmanship of the story and the way you jumped back in time through reading letters, just like the characters in the book were doing! I also liked finding out that the story was based on a real pirate and that the author stayed true to his story. What a fun way to learn more history!
The story was woven so beautifully. I believe you will fall in love with both the present-day and the historical stories in this book.
Lastly, I love how so many of Tyndall's books weave a thread of redemption throughout the stories. This book has a truly beautiful ending. I hope you will take the time to pick up this story and discover what the Timeless Treasure is all about!
(I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author/publisher.
I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed
are mine alone.)
I heard this song again earlier today and it keeps running through my head. I just think how many times do we say these words, “I'm fine, yeah I'm fine, oh I'm fine, hey I'm fine.”
But we are not fine... “fine“ is just the response, but not our true feelings.
We say “fine“ because it is easier to say that then to say how we are really feeling.
We say “fine” because we don’t want to open up.
We say “fine” because we think others don’t want to hear our hurts, or maybe they just won’t care. So it is easier to just be fine.
“Fine” is the cultural expectation. Here in the Midwest, we say, “I’m good.” Except, how many times is that really true? (My parents like to say no one is truly good (except God!). We are all sinners.)
We all have hurts. But we hide them because we feel like it is easier to keep things inside. It is easier to be independent. I can just handle it on my own. I’ll be fine, right?!?!
If I have learned anything through Covid-19, it is that we need community.
I used to think of myself as an extrovert or at least an ambivert. Or an extroverted introvert. (Sometimes, I’m not sure why we label ourselves!) But now, I realize I lean introverted (I loved being home for weeks on end!), but I also love my people and have missed having community with them. When I say “my people,” I mean the people God has placed in my life, my brothers and sisters in Christ, the people I do life with, the people who show Christ’s love to me. The people I feel I can respond to “how are you?” honestly.
So am I fine? Are you fine? Maybe, maybe not. The only thing I really know is I have God. He is my strength. He is my everything. Yes, I fall apart. Yes, I struggle. Yes, I get angry, I cry, I laugh, I smile. And everything in between! Yes, I even say “I’m fine” or “I’m good” when really, I’m not...
But... I know I have a God who loves me...with all of my faults. I know He loves me in the midst of struggle. And ultimately, I know God wins.
No matter what battle we are facing (Covid-19, relationships, work, etc...), God is here, right with us. He won’t leave us. We can cling to Him. He knows the outcome.
So in the midst of so many changes and hard things, God is the one who does not change and will not leave us. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) And He will never leave us or forsake us. (Deuteronomy 31:8) We may feel weak, but in our weakness, we are made strong through Christ! (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Friend, if I ever ask you how you are doing, and you want to share, know I will listen and I will pray. I would never begin to say I have all the answers, or even any answers, but I am willing to hear you and pray for you.
I’ll leave you with this verse:
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
