2022

Today I was reflecting on the year, as most do on New Years day, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with the blessings of the year. So many times we make grand plans but to see the plans God had laid out for us and how much more beautiful they were than anything I could have imagined. I guess if you really wanted to take a journey, we could go all the way back to 2021 but today I choose to reflect on this year.

In January I was confident that our dry spell could possibly last forever. We had been on a very minimal income 8 months and every month I felt like I wondered where the next month would come from. The Lord was faithful to provide each time I thought the money would run out but my heart was starting to ache for what I hoped would be 3 or 4 months that was now stretching into the new year. It was this time last year we made the decision to sell what we thought was our forever home to some of our nearest and dearest knowing we had nowhere to go. They graciously agreed to let us stay in the home until we had found one of our own which would turn out to be nearly 4 months passed the closing date.

Psalm 139:11-12 If I say “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is light with you.

March came and we closed on our home, we began to look for our next home and the search seemed never ending. We made offers, we saw property after property we took interest in sell the next day. It began to be absolutely comical that each one we looked at would then sell instantly.

These months it was a joy to be all together as a family, when we could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Lord had provided a job, a job that painfully required a move but we were so grateful that it became less and less painful and more of an adventure. We helped coach little league teams and loved life with friends and family. The Lord like he had so faithfully done for a full year now was providing for healing in our hearts and our physical being and in the connections of our family. We only had to continue stepping in faith.

Matthew 6:25-28 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”

Summer was upon us and we had just been notified of a house that was not on the market yet, we did not really want to be in town but the promise of this house was just to God, we went to the see the house and decided that it was indeed the one, excitement for the coming move was palpable but we had no idea how perfect it would actually be. A clean out was in order because this would be a downsize, when moving day came- in true fashion it was hot and on a holiday which brought our people out in full force. I have never moved so easily. I was overwhelmed with the love and support of our family who kept our kids, packed us, loaded us and unpacked us in the July heat with no complaint. It would only be a few days before I would meet the people who are our bruin tribe. Some new, some old, but they would bring a comfort and peace I could not even fathom I needed. Clay began his new job, the kids made friends and before I knew it we were enrolling at a new school. God knew and he provided above my asking.

In the midst of all that excitement I began a new job, I have not had a job that was not childcare in 8 years, I felt unqualified to say the least to work on a congressional campaign but as our Father often does, he had woven a group of moms together to run an impossible race that I am not sure I could quantify in words even now. May to October I traveled the state multiple times following God’s lead and in awe of what he was allowing me to witness. September would come yet another job offer, which I consider my dream job. Entourage is my heart, being able to serve the woman in our community and others is so near and dear to my heart, and to be a part of it is my greatest honor beyond my family. This year was full of new beginnings and sorrowful endings but above all our family witnessed the faithfulness of God in a tangible way!

I could list a highlight reel of things that would carry little weight for you but for me they have things that I have prayed for tearfully along my warrior sisters for years. I saw restoration in my family, I saw healing in my husband, I watched my children play in the yard of my grandmothers home along side my mom, I have seen joy on my children’s faces. The real highlight for me came in September when I had the incredible opportunity to travel to St Louis and worship the Lord alongside my mother and thousands of other women. My mom and I have not always had an easy road together but the joy I have in journeying with mom and experiencing the Lord so tangibly together is something I will hold dear for the rest of my days. I hope we take many more of these trips and that some day A will go with us but for now I will hold that jewel so close to my heart and marvel in what a special season this has been.

This year the Lord taught me to love deeply, intentionally, and with a vulnerability I could not have fathomed before the last two years of my life. It has helped me to see the gifts in front of me and how incredibly precious they are, God I pray with each season I see new joy in the trials and the victories and that you keep my eyes open to every interruption that is an opportunity in disguise.

Thank you 2022 for being an incredible and unforgettable year. I am so grateful I saw God’s plan unfold in you.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.