The cool breeze of the wind that gently touches my skin woke me up from my slumbering. I have not noticed the time. Yesterday was like a minute that quickly passed by without leaving a hint. It was not long ago; I remember the chaos that this pandemic has brought into our lives. Plans were thwarted. Redirection became normal. Things turned into complication. This social distancing made it even worse. Yet, with all those ups and downs this year, a little more time, another chapter will close. We will welcome another year.
A new year. A new journey. A new chapter.
This time around, I like to sit down with my old books, a little journal, and a hot cup of coffee to accompany me with. I love to still my heart and quiet my soul. I have to admit, these moments are my treasure. With the hustle and bustle of the city where I live in and the chaotic scenarios I encounter every day, serenity is what I long for most of the time.
For the past couple of years, one of the things that I always do is to look back over the year and try to evaluate what has happened in my life the whole year. I like to know the things that I need to leave behind and the lessons that I have to carry with me the next year. And as I am looking back, I realized that despite the many challenges that this year has brought into my life (personally), there are treasures that God allowed me to experience. Yes, this year is really different. But through all of those trials and uncertainties, God has been so faithful in my life. I am sure that He is also in your life.
These 10 things that I will be sharing with you are the things where I see God’s grace, mercy, and love. These are the lessons that I have learned within the past months where I feel restricted, restrained, and confined.
- God’s Word is the foundation and final authority of everything. (Develop a deeper relationship with God.) People and circumstances change but His Word will always be constant and unchanging. As I journey in the path of 2020, I have realized how important God’s Word is. A lot of depressing situations and discouragements came my way. But His Word is truly where we can find encouragement and hope to persevere and continue. Life’s challenges might knock us down, but His Word will help us get back on track when these burdens put us rock-bottom.
“For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” Proverbs 24:16
The more we know God, the more we become strong to face whatever lies ahead of us. The way we know God and His Word affects the way we live our lives.
2. It’s okay to say, “No.” One of the things that God has taught me is to learn how to say, “no.” When I was younger, I tend to please people because I want them to like me and be their friend. But I realized eventually that this is tiring. Although, there is a right way to please people (for the Lord), but most of the time, we tend to be on the wrong way to please them. Everyone longs for approval. Many of us wants to be friends with many people. Yet at the end of the day, our goal is to always please God first before men. When we choose to please God first before men, we will come up with the right way to please men for the glory of God. I heard someone says, “As long as I am okay with the Lord, I don’t need to please men.” There might be some sort of truth in this, I believe that it does not capture the entire thing. The Bible clearly states that we are to pursue peace with everyone. And based on experience, if we seek to bring glory to the Lord, men will see our hearts and they will not have anything against us.
It is always okay to say “no.” No to people and no to ourselves in order to bring honor to God.
“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” Hebrews 12:15
3. Don’t expect too much from others. I am an idealist type of person. But God taught me that there’s no perfect world nor perfect people. The verse found in Galatians 5:16 which says that, “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh,” reminds me of our sinfulness as humans and God’s righteousness. The only thing that sets us apart from non-believing people is Jesus and His righteousness. That’s why we always have the choice – to walk with Him in righteousness or to walk in the flesh in carnality. The way we handle our day-to-day affairs determines which way we are walking – Spirit or flesh. People are people. We all need the grace of God to continue. We all need His love to deal with people. Without this acknowledgement, we won’t be able to be a light in this darkening world. The amount of grace and love we received from the Lord is the amount we can extend to others. How much God’s grace and love have you received in your life?
“. . . For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” Luke 12:48
4. Focus on what God can do. Many times, I take impossible things impossible. There’s no logic and truth that can explain it. Yet those impossibilities are where God works. Walking by faith means trusting in the power of His name to turn things according to His purpose and plans. There are times that our finite minds try to find reasons on matters. But we often fail and end up frustrated and disappointed. Those things that are impossible are ways of God to show His power. Let us give it to the Lord. Focus on what He can do because He can do all. As for us, we can just do much.
“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 10:26
5. Hold firmly to our Biblical standards and principles. Right convictions and principles are out of the truths of the Bible. The truth of the world keeps changing. But God’s truth will never change. Developing right convictions and principles will help us walk in the right direction. Man’s philosophies and theologies are sometimes deceiving. However, if we truly rely on what the Bible says and our convictions out of His truth, we will never be deceived. This does not mean that we become proud or rude pushing our own. We can let others know our stand and simply walk through it.
Our beliefs must be backed up by our way of life.
6. God is God no matter what circumstance we are into. This is what I always put in my mind. God is an omniscient and omnipresent God. Our pain and struggles are an open book to Him. Sometimes we tend to think that God has forgotten us. Everything does not come as a surprise to Him. Instead, He is the one behind and in control of all things. No matter what life throws at us, He will never leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
7. When things are out of place, run to God, not to people. When things are not unfolding the way we expect or plan, we get frustrated and disappointed. Our hearts will fall into despair. When times like these come, where do we run to? When our hearts are broken, whom do we call upon?
“The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Proverbs 18:10
God is able to turn our despair into hope and our mourning into joy. When we learn to run to Him alone, we can find lasting joy and comfort.
8. Loneliness is part of life when we decide to walk with God closer. Have you ever struggled with loneliness? Everybody has a story to tell about loneliness. I am sure that at some point in our lives, loneliness became our companion. You know what I have learned from that? That loneliness is good. That it should never be hated nor feared. Because in our worldly loneliness, we find joy in the Lord.
We can never be really understood by anyone perfectly especially that we are living in this broken world and surrounded by people who don’t love the Lord. When we try to share this struggle to them, it is rarely that they understand it. The same is true even to our fellow Christians.
“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalm 16:11
9. Have a self-examination every now and then. It pays to know where we are standing. No one can say that he or she is strong and mature enough to deal with all life’s struggles. We are human- prone to every temptation and sin. We become carnal if we forget to walk in the Spirit. Like what Apostle Paul said,
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2nd Corinthians 13:5
10. Love genuinely. Love more. The secret to loving others is to love God first. When our hearts are solely beating for the Lord, loving becomes easier.
Yet loving others the way we love Him involves sacrifice. Sacrificing our desires and convenience. Sacrificing our wants and plans. Sacrificing our time and effort. Sacrificing our ideals, preferences, and standards. Sacrificing ourselves to love others the way Jesus wants us to love. I have learned that in loving, we need to look at the cross and picture Jesus hanging on it. There’s pain. There’s hurt. There’s death. There’s sacrifice. Because it is really hard to love others especially when we don’t like the way they are. But its fruit is unfathomable and it lasts until eternity. In the end, it’s all worth it. We can only love if we don’t focus on ourselves but Christ.
We can love God and others when we can deny and die to ourselves so that others may live. So that others may come to know that through us, Jesus is love. So that through us, others may find a ray of hope found in Jesus. And we know that when we run out of love, Jesus is the source of the never-ending flow of love. We only need to run to Him and ask Him to fill our cup. I could not agree more with author Ann Voskamp who said that “Sacrifice leaves us the most satisfaction.”
In loving sacrificially, we will discover a glimpse of love at Calvary.
As I position myself to welcome 2021 with a grateful heart, I pray that God will enable me to see the beauty of everything. Life can change in a moment. I want my heart to be fixed in the Lord so that no matter what life brings, I can be still in Him.
What about you? What have you been thanking God this year 2020?
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