Many people refer to 2020 as the worst year of their lives. By all accounts, it may have been. There WAS a shortage of toilet paper you know! In all seriousness, I’m sure some people felt like it was their worst year because they lost a loved one, maybe more, to Covid. Others may have lost their jobs and had a hard time feeding their families. Oddly enough, at the same time, some professions required their workers to be profoundly overworked, exposed, and exhausted. Those who didn’t work were hid away in their homes both day and night dealing with moody spouses or the fact that they had no spouse for support. They were forced to listen to whining, bored children who weren’t allowed to go to school. Shall I mention the CHURCH people? They were fretting, crying, and praying to be able to go back to the House of God! They were ready to fight anyone who stood in their way for Heaven’s Sake! Outside church services were proven to just not be the same. I’ll agree, 2020 was extremely rough!
Amid all of the chaos, it’s hard to believe that there were actually people who thought 2020 was one of the best years of their lives. Wait…what? Yes, I’m being totally honest! Although they had less financially, some parents soon realized the blessings of being able to have quality time with their children. Mothers were able to clean their houses and have actual home cooked meals at the dinner table. Fathers spent quality time with their children playing games, doing hobbies, and having meaningful conversations. Children had time to read, create crafts, or just have alone time to think. The hustle and bustle of everyday life was removed, taking with it the stress of keeping up with the Joneses so to speak! Churches all of a sudden found out that they had a wider range of voice. Sermons reached thousands more than they would have before the pandemic. It would be interesting to know how many lost souls were saved that wouldn’t have heard God’s Word otherwise. There was a real, sincere longing to be in God’s house with his people. That was made possible through technology.
At first, most everyone was convinced that 2021 was going to be a much better year. Everything would be back to normal and life would be grand! It only took a few days for chaos to rear its ugly head again. Last year’s problems didn’t magically disappear. In fact, they proudly walked into January like they were the boss or something. Immediately, people began to throw up their hands and accept defeat, “This year is gonna be a bad one too! It’s probably gonna be even worse than last year!”
As you know, problems don’t go away by wishing. It takes prayer, repentance, and humility before God. If you wanna have a great year, you gotta have great faith. God has always and will always move where there is faith. I’m talking about having even just as much as a tiny grain of a mustard seed of faith. If you could show a bit more, that would be great too! It may even speed the process up a bit. Having faith means that you wholeheartedly trust God to take care of the problem. Practice with me…God I trust you to… (whatever your need).
Do you remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? They refused to bow down to the King’s image. They had faith that God would protect them. That, my friends, took a great amount of courage and faith. They didn’t turn their faith in God away, even when they were thrown into the fiery furnace! Their faith paid off because when the king looked in he saw four men in the fire. Praise the Lord, when we have faith in our almighty, all knowing Father, he doesn’t leave us to work things out on our own. He’s with us through fire, floods, natural disasters, divorce, infertility, abandonment, failure, abuse, and whatever we are going through. With our faith in him, he walks us out into a new life!
If you aren’t dancing and praising God right now, you should be. Today, is the day that you are reminded that you do not have to be held in Satan’s captivity! All you need is that mustard seed of faith.
It is by faith right now, that I ask you to share this blog with family, friends, and acquaintances…shucks, you can tell strangers if you’d like! I strongly feel that I have been called by God to be a cheerleader of encouragement for the saved and a witness to the lost. You too, can help those you know by sharing my blog! Thank you for your support! May God richly bless you!
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19
