Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021!

2020 is coming to an end. What a year it has been for just about everyone! The entire world has been impacted in one way or another by a deadly pandemic. As if things weren’t already difficult enough, COVID came along and disrupted life as we knew it. So many people are suffering from the effects of trauma this year alone. So many searching and looking for hope. Perhaps that’s you today? Let me start off by saying, you are not alone. Your pain and your suffering is not in vain. You matter and there is still a plan and purpose for your life despite the tears I see in your beautiful eyes, despite them welling up in mine. Like so many, I’ve experienced incredible highs and lows this year. One of my highest moments was just weeks ago when I married my best friend. What does a home wedding during a pandemic look like? We had very few guests, casual attire, zoom calls for family out of state, a beautiful and delicious wedding cake, simple decorations on my parents dinning room table and soft elegant drapes that fell so perfectly around a hallway entrance now turned into a holy wedding arch. While it was small and intimate, it was one of the happiest and one of the most significant days of my life. This year has been full of happy moments mixed in with so many tears, I’m certain you can relate. My dear friend, I would love to sit and hear your story. I picture us with warm lattes in hand sitting for hours as we discuss the journey that brought us to this very moment. Laughter and tears filling the room as we reflect on the goodness of God that ALWAYS outweighs the pain. While I can’t be next to you right now, I sincerely pray you are encouraged in the Lord and in the power of His might. As we enter a new year (Lord willing of course)… may we be reminded of the One who holds every moment of our life in His hands. May we find comfort in knowing we have a God who still sees us, hears us, and who promises to be with us every step of the way. May 2021 be a year that we shine even brighter for HIS kingdom in a world that continues to grow darker. Keep going my sweet friend… the best is yet to come!

// prayer //

Lord, according to Your mercy and grace, You have brought me through another year! This one has been very different from most, nevertheless You have remained faithful and true! Thank You for all You provided and all that You will continue to provide. No matter the pain and heartache, You alone are the strength of my life! Thank You for promising to be with me even until the end of time! Father, as I go into a New Year, I pray Your will be done above my own! May You constantly bring me to my knees reminding me of my great need for You! Never let me go astray but always bring me back to You! Be glorified in my life and help me to run the race You set before me! May the New Year be a season that I grow even closer to You! Be with all who need You right now, comfort and heal, protect and guide, open eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit is saying! For Thine alone is all the Kingdom, all the Power, and all the Glory, forever and ever… in Jesus name, AMEN!

🙌🏽🙏🏽💜

The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.
-Numbers 6:24-26

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
-Philippians 3:12-14