Today, my heart is full of gratitude for each of you. I have been scrolling this group and the members that are here and a smile comes as I see your names.
This picture was taken while we were doing fitness together, and there are two things I’ve been learning through fitness and this season: self-discipline and gratitude.
As many of you know, I’m currently on sabbatical. Before I entered it, I thought a sabbatical was simply a time to rest or step away from activities. But I’ve learned that it also requires discipline, intentionality, and being grateful for where I am, even if it’s not exactly where I thought I would be.
I am grateful today for the many people God has placed in my life to walk with me through this season.
Today, I’ve been debriefing nine years of ministry in Cornwall with YWAM, and oh my goodness, it has been painful. Much like doing a new exercise for muscles you didn’t know existed. It hurts, you don’t want to do it, but you know it will bring growth and results later.
I’ve realized there are areas I didn’t even know I needed to grieve: losses I hadn’t fully processed. And at the same time, I’ve seen the extravagance of God’s goodness throughout this season. I’ve gained a new perspective on what it means that God has been with me “through the valley of the shadow of death; I will fear no evil.”
This verse sometimes felt intense, even daunting. I thought it meant I had to go through extremely hard seasons, but reflecting with my sabbatical coach on the past nine years, these has been some refelctions of my path: losing dear friends in Ecuador and not being able to grieve with those who knew them, losing friendships/gaining others, losing staff members / gaining new ones, leaving a shared home after seven years of community life / gaining a house to spend time as family, losing my eldest child / gaining a teenager going to adulthood and my list keeps going.
I am appreciating the time to stop and reflect how much God’s presence has been constant, guiding, sustaining, and comforting, to be able to reflect and cry fully things that maybe I couldn’t because you need to keep moving forward.
Even in the losses, even in the pain, I see God’s faithfulness and goodness. And for that, I am profoundly grateful.
My encouragement today, May the Lord help us all to pause and stop to reflect the goodness of His love and the way how He has carried us in the hardest moments. I don’t know about you, but for me sometimes it is easy to remember that hard times, but when I stopped, pause and see the path. I can see the extravagant love of God and how He definitely has carried us through it all.
The new muscle that I am working on this time is to learn how to pause, how to stop, how to take a deep breath and to feel His presence, because He wants to spend time with me
Verse of today: Matthew 11:28-30
“ Are you tired?
Are you worn out?
Burned out on religion?
Come to me.
Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.
I’ll show you how to take a real rest.
Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it.
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you
Keep company with me and you’ll learn
To live freely and lightly”