It’s the End of 2022! Yay?
To My Fellow Believers:
Well, another year has come and gone. To be honest, I don’t know how I feel about anther year gone by. Time is marching on whether I like it or not. A few years back, 2020 seemed hard, didn’t it? It was the year of the virus and all that came with it. For me, it was also the year of the fireplace. Have you heard this story? I had a fireplace explode in my face! I’m not talking about a little gas poof like from a bbq. I mean a propane bomb went off as I pushed the buttons below a glass enclosed fireplace. Somehow I did not lose my face, my sight or my hearing! The fire inspector said it was a true miracle. Aside from the PTSD, it almost seemed funny. Just a little icing on the top of the many, many weird things that were happening medically, socially and politically. Then came 2021. Remember that? Many thought, “things will get better this year.” Yet, I’ve heard time and time again that 2021 left people with even more trials than 2020. I received my stage four cancer diagnoses in the middle of 2021, so it wasn’t exactly my favorite year. Along came 2022. I was hoping that even if it wouldn’t be a turning point for me, it might be for those around me. And guess what? Not so much. It seems to me that people far and wide are struggling, on the average, more than pre-2020. Of course, not everyone has experienced this downturn, but if you have faced a hard couple of years, you definitely have company. Things here in the US just used to seem easier, more fun, less complicated and less expensive. Maybe it was all a little too easy.
How are you looking toward 2023?…
In the face, feet planted, fists up.
Flat on my back, eyes closed.
Eyes up, giving glory to God, whatever may come.
Welcome to my Happy-Almost-New-Year blog post!!! (Sarcasm) If you are still reading this depressing post, it’s about to take a turn, even if 2023 does not. In answer to the question above, for me, I’d say, a little bit of all three… while straining toward the third answer.
I often find myself telling myself that my life is just not that hard, historically speaking. Maybe I’ve said it to you, about yours. (Sorry, if I did, minimizing your pain.) However, I do believe we lead pretty easy lives, comparatively. We have so many creature comforts, so many medications, so many luxuries. I struggled to write above that these past three years have been hard, because, they have just not been that hard when you look at what people have lived through historically. (Or currently in less well-to-do places.) But you know what, just because we have comfy beds and plenty of food to eat, doesn’t mean we don’t experience physical and emotional pain. Try as we may to eliminate sadness with technology, luxuries and fun, we cannot.
Cancer is hard. Living with a cancer patient is hard. Ongoing illness of any kind is hard. Losing a job is hard. Seeing your kids struggle is hard. Having a difficult marriage is hard. Being broke is hard. Experiencing abuse is hard. A lot of life is just plain hard. I have to tell myself it’s okay to say cancer is hard, even if others have experienced something harder. How can I depend on Christ if I don’t admit I need help? Lord, cancer is hard and I need Your help. If my trials don’t matter, then His suffering didn’t matter and I know that’s not true.
Soooooo, about that turn away from the depressing part of this post I mentioned above, here it comes. It’s subtle, so don’t miss it.
I’d like to encourage you to read the entirety of Romans 12. Here are a few excerpts:
Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
Be joyful in hope.
Be patient in affliction.
Be faithful in prayer.
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
And then from Romans 14:
If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
Was 2020 hard? Was 2021 harder? How about 2022? What ‘s coming in 2023? I have no idea! The “turn” I promised above from this seemingly depressing post is not, “2023 will get easier! It will be so fun!” Maybe it will! And… maybe it won’t. Likely, it will be a mix. But what makes this post not depressing? The declaration of HOPE in Christ Jesus! Whatever 2023 brings, we have hope in Christ!!!!!!!! Life is hard. In that hardness we have a Savior who commiserates. In my past trials, I looked forward to them ending or lessening so I could be “happy again.” When suffering, I may think, “I’m over it.” Do you have these thoughts? If we do, we should check ourselves. God has ordained each and every moment of my life. When “I’m over it,” what am I really saying to God? My plan is better? I know what is best? I often feel like I’m over this cancer stuff. My cancer trial is not likely to “end” in the way other trials have, so I don’t have the luxury of being over it. I need to find joy in the midst of it. I need to apply Romans 12 now. Truthfully, whether our trials are temporary or permanent, we need to glorify God in the midst of them. Lord, help me to do so.
Here comes 2023. I want to face this year with my eyes up, fixed on God. Trusting Him that He knows best. Will you meditate on Romans 12 with me that we might grow to be believers who have joy in hope, patience in affliction, offering our broken, lame bodies as living sacrifices? Remembering that if we live, we live for the Lord and that if we die, we die for the Lord?
Thank you for sharing this journey with me. May we be people who rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.
Love,
Julie
P.S. Here is my recent medical update: End of Year Update
Me and Lolly (Eli) on Christmas Day