The Year We Never Knew We Needed

So, if there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s this…2020 has been straight up weird.

I mean, who could have predicted that we’d be where we are right now? Everything has changed and is still changing.

And can I be real with you for a second? I came to a point a little while ago where I was struggling big time (I mean, aren’t we all?!), I was relentlessly fighting against the disappointment of delay. I was fiercely trying to hang onto things that felt like they were slipping away. I was obsessively trying to work out how this lockdown was going to affect my future and it all got a little much.

I was searching for big answers to quieten my endless stream of big questions when I had a random thought.

I picked up my journal and I went to page one, January 1^st 2020, and I read what I had written that New Years day, and this is what it said:

“I have a feeling that so much unknown is about to be thrown our way. I have a feeling it’s going to be big, scary and ever so vibrant. And it’s going to be exactly what we need. It’s going to bring life, in ways and places we can’t predict. I have a feeling my hopes and dreams for this year are going to seem pretty small in comparison to what God has lined up…”

WAIT… WHAT?! I WROTE THAT?! (You see why I’m a journal fan now?)

I had no idea what 2020 would hold, but it seems God did. Shocker, I know.

And so that journal entry got me thinking, maybe 2020 isn’t a right off, maybe it isn’t a complete disaster, maybe I’ve been seeing it all wrong.

Maybe 2020 is actually the year that we’ve been needing, a year that changes us, a year of growth and awakening. Afterall, turning things that seem pretty destructive into things that bring life is kinda God’s speciality. Maybe, just maybe, that’s what He’s doing with 2020.

I have no idea how this year has changed your life, but I’m going to bet that it has somehow.

Well, I want you to know that this year hasn’t flawed God, it hasn’t messed with His plans, it hasn’t touched His power. He knew what was coming. What He has in store for you and your life cannot be shaken by anything this world can throw at Him.

But things are still hard right? Still confusing? Yeah, I get it. Sometimes, even though we know that God is ridiculously good, it doesn’t quite silence those annoying questions in the back of our mind. In those times we have to find something to hang onto.

So, here are two things that you can hang onto right now.

1. God doesn’t waste time.

Anyone else need to hear that today?

For us, waiting tends to feel like dead space, doesn’t it? Delays are my least favourite thing. But God simply doesn’t see things that way. When you read the Bible, you’ll very quickly notice that the waiting times, the times that we would rather skip, are actually God’s favourite times.

For God, waiting isn’t dead space, it’s a space for preparation, growth, deepening, rest and so much more. Waiting isn’t grey, it’s bursting with colour. God is all around you, He’s doing wonderful things all over the place and He’s wanting to do them with you; but if you tell yourself that His plans are on pause, you’ll miss them.

You are not on pause. God is not wasting your time right now. 2020 is not dead space.

2. God cannot and does not lie.

When He says He knows what He’s doing with you, He means it.

When He says that He has big things in store for you, He means it.

When He says that nothing can get in the way of His love for you, He means it.

Those plans He told you to make, those dreams He told you to go for, those prayers He told you He would answer- you can hold onto them, He means what He says.

If He says it, we believe it. Even if it looks different to what we were expecting, even if it takes longer than we’d like to wait.

 If He says it, we believe it. No matter what.

I don’t know how, but I know that one day I’ll be ridiculously thankful for 2020, but until then, until I can see what God was up to with my own eyes, I’m choosing to believe that he knows what He’s doing with my 2020, and with yours.