2020 Year in Review

Hi lovely friends,

It’s been quite some time since I last posted. I’ve still been active over on my Instagram so make sure you’re following me on there.

2020 eh? What a year it’s been. I was looking over my past year and I realized very quickly that not much happened for me in the natural sense. I spent most of my year at home, but boy, did I learn a lot. I felt God speak the word peace early on in January the word was popping up all over the place and when that happens, I know God is trying to speak to me. I thought for sure by mid-February I had figured out why he had spoken the word peace over my life and had nothing to do with what I didn’t see coming. By March 18th my whole world had been flipped upside down COVID had hit Canada in a big way and our hospitals were already struggling with bed shortages and we didn’t have enough PPE, so off we all went to work from home, we all thought we’d be home for a couple of weeks, well weeks turned into months, and months has turned into almost a year. Aside from COVID a lot of other things took place, race issues became the forefront of the news in all sorts of heartbreaking ways, the election took place just across the way, and conspiracy theories took center stage. I, for one work in healthcare, and while I thought peace for this year meant one thing it took me a long time to realize it meant something completely different for me. Let me explain, I thought peace for me this year had to do with actual fear, not to say this year wasn’t scary I don’t know if it’s because I wasn’t leaving my house that COVID didn’t scare me as much as I thought, or if it’s because for a long time no one I knew personally was directly affected by it in negative ways, but peace for me was more about the sanity of mind, quietness of heart and gratitude. To be honest, I failed miserably at this, but I can take into 2021 that peace is important, Jesus offers it and it’s my choice to take it or not. Peace for me was needed on a daily, and I can’t express to you how much COVID affected my job in many, many negative and frustrating ways, but for some reason, it took me almost 8 months before I remembered God had spoken peace to me this year and I hadn’t latched onto it in the way I should have. My takeaway though is peace isn’t just something we need when we’re afraid, but something that I think we all could use daily.

Something else that stuck out to me was how much we really need Jesus like truly need Jesus. As a Christian this year has been extremely frustrating and confusing in all sorts of ways and through it, I realized how so many of us think we’re good, but we are not. We think we’re doing just fine, but when we feel like in some way our rights are being infringed upon everything we’ve learned about loving others, being kind, and submitting to governing authorities goes out the window. The question what would Jesus do I don’t think was asked very often. I realize this may step on people’s toes, but the Jesus I read about in the Bible didn’t come to be political, even though that’s what everyone was hoping for, He instead came to deal with the religious and save the very people we’ve been cursing all year long. Look, I’m not saying I agree with everything that’s happened this year, or how it’s been dealt with, but I can say that I know without a doubt that Jesus is still seated on the throne and whether or not you agree or like what’s happened it doesn’t mean that you can throw all the things we’ve lived by for so long out the window. So, in all of this, I took away how much we all still need Jesus, we need Him to humble us, we need him to help us be selfless, and ultimately how we need to love people. One of the things I’ve wanted my life to speak of is His love and I hope that’s something we can all agree on.

The last thing I took away from this year is how much I needed limits on social media and how overall it’s not the healthiest thing for me. Social media this year caused a lot of frustration and also had me losing respect for all sorts of people in my life. That’s the thing about it, it’s meant to connect us, but more than ever it’s been causing division because all the things you’d never know about someone just by talking to them you suddenly are aware of. I’ve had to ask the Lord to help me when it comes to being able to love them despite their weaknesses. Through these experiences I’ve become more aware of how much less I need to be on social media and how careful I need to be with what I choose to share. I always complain that I don’t have time to do all the things I want, but I always find the time to be on my phone. I’ve embarked on a journey of digital minimalism and I’m hoping that through this I’ll not only learn more about myself but more about God and what He intends for us socially and relationally.

Overall, even though this year had its ups and downs and I hope I don’t experience another pandemic in my lifeline I’ll have some very good lessons to take with me for the rest of my life. I wish you all the best in 2021 and I pray that God continues to do work in all of us this next year!

Love,