Hey Friends!! I know that it’s been a long while since I’ve posted and for that, I’m sorry. There is a lot that has been going on this past year and if I’m being blatantly honest, I’ve let so many excuses get it the way of me doing what I know helps my soul to process the things that are going on around me in my world. So, here I am, working to try and make things a little bit easier for my brain to process while also listening to what I think God is placing on my heart to do. Following in obedience is a lot harder to do than it is to try and teach to others isn’t it?
The topic of this blog post as well as many others that I plan to write in the coming weeks/months will be over the word that God gave me for 2022, CHOSEN. Let me explain my yearly word a little bit in case you haven’t heard of the concept before. Close to the end of each year, usually the last few weeks of December, I start to pray over a single word that God has in store for me for the coming year. Instead of resolutions, I pray for a word to be the proclamation over the trials that I will go through during the year. Usually, by the last few days of the year, I have a word that keeps coming up and I can’t shake and that is the word that I choose to be mine. Last year, the word was courage and OH BOY did God deliver on that word. There were so many moments that I didn’t see coming where I had to be courageous and learn to make BIG, trusting decisions with God. When it comes time to pray about my word, excitement fills my heart… but if I’m totally honest, so does fear. I don’t like the hard battles I have to face in order to come out on other side of the pain and see where my word comes into play. The pain is never a fun battle to have to endure but the beauty of how that word plays out is pretty stinking cool to see.
I was thinking about my word for this year last week while driving and I had a thought go through my mind: What if every week, I write a post about a lesson I’ve learned that encapsulates my word? I knew that had to be a God thought, because frankly, the things I’ve been going through lately, have been heavy and hard. Trying to see the beauty in what I’ve been enduring isn’t easy and isn’t fun. However, if someone can benefit from the lessons and bits of light I can find in the darkness, it’s worth every second of the pain. Jesus does a really great job of making our heartache into something that can be a lesson to others and can be seen for beauty instead of ashes, doesn’t He?
All of this brings me to my current week, the current lesson I’ve been learning and the current struggle I’ve been trying to find the beauty in. There has been pain this past week. Pain over decisions, pain over relationships, pain over the empathy that I feel for those who are struggling with things that are so heavy, I can’t honestly fathom but I can see in their eyes and feel in their words. This week, along with the past few, have brought with it many challenges and many triumphs. It has brought with it memories of the past struggles I’ve faced and emotions that are tied to those struggles that I forgot were even there until they were stirred up again. Pain and grief are funny things… they are often forgotten about until they are brought back around and you’re left to process what they feel like again.
Today, a scripture has been running through my mind while I work on writing all of these things out into this blog post:
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1: 2-4 NIV
I know that something that I haven’t felt yet during these past few weeks when it comes to the battles I’ve been facing is pure joy. I haven’t seen any joy in it at all in these situations. It’s been exhausting and mentally taxing on me and those I love. However, when I think of it in the context of the scripture, I can see why I should consider it joy in some aspects. God is growing my faith. He is walking me through the storm, one step at a time, one moment at a time, and He has never left my side. He has given me words of truth that I would normally shy away from speaking while also filling me with courage to face the hard situations because there will be triumph and success on the other side of things. Maturity comes with the stretching of your physical, mental and emotional fitness. Maturing of your faith comes with being tested and walking through the fires of your life while leaning on the goodness and faithfulness of Jesus.
I’m not sure when things will get better in those specific areas, but I do know that God is good, and He has a plan and a purpose for all trials. I do know that He has the entire situation figured out and is willing to walk with me through the battles because He has always promised that we don’t ever have to do this alone. I know that God is molding me right now, He is using this situation to make me into more of who He has called me to be. It’s my duty and responsibility to listen to where He is directing me to go while staying moldable enough to be refined in the process. I also know that the hard in one area of my life can’t be given the power to take away from all of the beauty and goodness that are being woven into my each and every day. Just because some things are hard to hold, doesn’t mean that I’m not able to see and appreciate the beauty in the rest of my life. Don’t let one moment define your entire outlook on your life my friends. There are so many different moments of beauty that happen each and every day, take those moments and remind yourself to cherish them. They are what get you through the toughest battles.
So, this week, I encourage you to see where your endurance is in your life currently. I also challenge you to remind yourself of where the beauty is in your life. What can you thank God for? What challenges can you lay at His feet knowing that there isn’t a safer place in the world for them to be? What hardships feel too heavy to take another step with that you can take to the Throne Room and present to Jesus and ask Him to help you carry that load? This may be one of the most difficult seasons of your life right now my friend, you’re in good company because I am too. We can do this together. One day at a time, one moment at a time, one foot in front of the other.
Have a fantastic week, Jesus loves you. Always.
~Gracefully,
Kellen~
Gracefully Kellen 