I have learned that God is in control of my life, no matter how many plans I have. I have also discovered how much I rely on the scaffolding of church activities to keep me on track in my Christian walk and I have been challenged to develop a better personal relationship with God.
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I am generally always busy and I quite like it that way. However I have learned that running from one thing to the next is not necessarily a profitable type of busyness. I have been forced to reevaluate how I spend my time, and to be more purposeful in what I choose to do.
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I have learned that it is not lack of time that keeps me from a closer walk with God but lack of discipline. It has nothing to do with external circumstances; it’s an internal heart issue.
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I have learned to appreciate, yet again, that God is in control even when we feel everything is out of control. He can use situations that we think are hopeless, to spread the gospel to people who would not have heard it before. He does not need us but he will use us if we are prepared to be used.
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I have learned that I need to be more purposeful in cultivating my relationship with God, and realised I've previously counted on church activities or other Christians to keep me “on track”. I've similarly learned that I have tended to take for granted the fellowship of God's people, as we normally see each other multiple times a week. Current circumstances have forced me to appreciate them so much more, and to be purposeful again at keeping in contact with my church family.
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I knew in theory that my comfort, security, health and hopes were always in His hands and I was always utterly dependent on God for them, but He graciously used events in 2020 to reveal how much I took that for granted or had been relying on my own strength. I’m still being lovingly held, but I’m much more conscious, more appreciative and more in awe of it.
“When I thought, ‘My foot slips’, your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up” (Psalm 94:18 ESV).
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I never realised how self-reliant I was until 2020 when so many things happened that I had no control over. I spent a lot of the year feeling helpless, anxious and frustrated but gradually God showed me there’s never been any part of my life that I was in control of, even before Covid-19. He has it all in His hands and I need to leave it there.
“Cursed is the man . . . whose heart turns away from the Lord . . . Blessed is the man . . . whose trust is the Lord” (Jeremiah 17:5-7 ESV).
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There is always, always something to be thankful for. Complaining and being miserable doesn’t change circumstances, but focusing on the security and comfort found in God, and noting the blessings that still surround us, helps gain perspective and lifts the head and heart.
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When supermarket shelves were bare, I was reminded that my trust must be in God alone. He is the great Provider. “Do not worry about . . . what you will eat or drink . . . Look at the birds of the air . . . your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:25-27).
With the loss of a loved one, I was reminded that it is God who numbers our days. He holds our days in His hand, and we are safe in His hand. “The Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever” (Psalm 37:18).
I learnt of the need to humble myself when God’s plan is not my plan. “Submit to God” (James 4:7). I learnt that even though I may not be able to change what is happening in the world, I have the opportunity to influence and impact what is happening in my own home and with my own family. I was also reminded of some not-so-great things about myself. Character flaws like impatience – with situations and people. Being slow to show compassion. I am so thankful for a God who is long-suffering toward me, a God slow to anger and rich in love. “The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:8-9).
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Surely 2020 has reminded us of the transitory nature of life, and the need to have our focus on and identity placed securely in the One who is utterly steady and immutable. And it is in Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, that we find abiding peace. “Change and decay in all around I see – O Thou who changest not, abide with me” (H. F Lyte).
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When all in the world changed due to COVID there were many lessons to be learned.
Life doesn’t stay the same and is so uncertain on many levels. The normality of life has been stripped away, so I am thankful that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. While life as we knew it changed in so many ways, He never changes!
The comfort, hope and guidance needed is found in the Lord and His Word, and His mercies are new every day!
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He gives us hope, when hope is gone;
He gives us strength, when we can't go on;
He gives us shelter, in the storms of life;
When there's no peace on earth, there is peace in Christ.
Holding the hand of someone in their last moments of life with their family only present on FaceTime doesn’t leave anyone unscarred. The storms of 2020 were real, and the scars it has left real too. The one thing you long for in that moment is peace, and because of Christ and His sacrifice, we can have it. Until 2020 I didn’t appreciate or value this wonderful gift anything like I should have. On the days we struggle to keep our heads above the waves we can take heart, knowing our Lifeguard walks on water. The One who commands the waves: “peace, be still”.
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I’ve realised I’m extremely bad at disciplining myself to read and pray consistently when my ‘normal’ routine is disrupted. I’ve learned that I can’t sit and relax and always need to be busy making it easier to avoid thinking about any problems or worries I have. I really miss singing at the Lord’s supper more than I ever imagined.
I have started to work on what I’ve discovered!
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In 2020 I learnt that taking time out for myself isn’t selfish and in fact makes me a better version of me so that I can be there for my family. It also taught me that worrying is a waste of time and that I just need to trust Him. Like many I also found such pleasure in the simplest of things. I hope and pray that when things do go back to normal remembering the Lord (physically together, as a church) on Sunday mornings will now be more fully appreciated and not taken for granted again.
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God tells us throughout the Scriptures that He is in control and is sovereign over all. Why does it become so easy to think we need to always keep such control on our lives?
This year I have learnt and continue to learn that true and faithful trust in God requires letting go of that ‘so-called’ control we have on our lives. Letting go is never something I have found easy, but something the Lord is teaching me daily – to trust in the control and plans of God.
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What have I learned from 2020? I wish I could say I have learned patience and contentment but I haven’t. Instead I have learned something about myself – I rely on other people, events and good times to be satisfied and happy. I have, however, learned over and over again that God is good and gracious and kind, so I am going to be grateful that this experience has extended into 2021 and I have another opportunity to learn to find contentment in Him.
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What I “can’t find time for” in the rush of life, I most likely won’t do even when I have all the time in the world. From now on I hope to stop saying: “I don’t have time”, since I have proven it always was, and still is, just an EXCUSE. Doing what’s right and best for me is ALWAYS going to require discipline.
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2020 . . .
“If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:15 NIV). “Doing this” on a Monday and “doing that” on a Tuesday, with a nod to “if the Lord wills”, was the way that 2020 was expected to be.
Suddenly, the plates stopped spinning and predictable routines went into lockdown. At “surface level”, Nicola Sturgeon (Scotland’s First Minister) and Boris Johnson (UK Prime Minister) dictated what “this” or “that” could not continue, but the higher government of “if it is the Lord’s will” was really in control.
Locusts may have eaten up many other years in the past but, on the whole, I think that 2020 was a year that the Lord restored, and when I STARTED to learn to place lower value on things that do not really matter and treasure things which certainly do. A long, long way to go with this (if the Lord wills)!
