I have recently seen many people posting about what 2016 was like for them, considering it’s 10 years ago now. So, I began to remember what that particular year meant to me.
2016 was a rough year. God was moving me, and I didn’t want to go. I had a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old, and no thoughts whatsoever about starting my own nonprofit and going it alone. I wanted sameness and the legacy I knew, and God was ready to push me into the deep end and show me He could carry me through.
I remember sitting by a fire on a camping trip in Moab with my family, begging God to change it. But also finally settling that if this was the new direction, I would know him more deeply in it. And boy, was that ever true.
I was choosing loss of security as I saw it, loss of the legacy I thought I was to carry, and loss of comfort. I was choosing to burn my future (as I had planned it in my mind) to the ground. And although I didn’t know it yet, I was choosing an adventure that would bless me in ways I could not imagine.
I did not make this transition well. I threw tantrums, got angry and lashed out at people along the way. On this journey, though, Jesus has been faithful to meet me and bring me low in His mercy. In this place, I see His face, hear His voice and desire His presence in ways I had never thought I would experience.
Every time a new year begins, I ask the same question—is this the year I give it up and do something different? I never want to define myself by this ministry and be too stubborn to let it go. And every year so far, the answer has been no. Jesus tells me that He will complete the good work He’s started, so I can relax and allow Him to make me faithful in whatever He calls me to. Looking back over the last ten years, I see His faithfulness in every bit of my life.
Whatever circumstance you find yourself in, I know that it is not too big for Jesus to hold for you. He will carry you through, even when it’s your own mistakes that have brought it about. He will always be enough, even for the big life dismantlings that feel like they will end us. They are part of the process that brings us into deeper relationship with Him. Nothing is wasted—even the hard stuff is a place to know Him.
Now may God, the fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with his super-abundance until you radiate with hope! Romans 15:13