When I wrote my end of the year blog 2020 (see here), I thought it was hard already. Things that happened this 2021, were even more challenging. But God’s grace is sufficient.
Here are some of the things we are very thankful to the Lord:
- The growth in our faith in Him. That is, trusting Him more in our day-to-day, our future, and all of the things we don’t have any control of. He made us experience tough challenges, in which He supplied us the richness of His grace as we went through them.
- The opportunity to share the gospel with our family and friends at work. They say that the hardest to share the gospel with, are those who are “closest” to you. They are the ones who see you for who you are. Those who can see your unguarded moments — the family you were born with. As for the friends at work, it’s also a bit of a challenge (at least to me) to share with them. The Lord provided opportunities for me to share the gospel with them naturally and organically.
- The comfort of His truth and grace. There were moments of doubts, despair, and discouragement to me this year. They were at their peak when my business was not doing well, we are having a monetary shortfall, and when we were being maligned by some people. God’s truth in His word helped us weather these and provided us strength. He provided us the grace to be at peace in our decisions. He provided us His Joy that we pleased Him by standing for what is right and not compromising for just what is convenient.
- The godly people He sent our way. As we were going through all of those, He gave us godly and mature friends (especially to Kuya Manny and Ate Kit Gatuslao) to encourage us and help us carry our burdens. He provided us with credible and able counselors to assist us in our plight. We are very thankful to the Lord for them who spent time with us, counseled us, and heard our cries.
- The provisions to sustain our earthly needs. Given that my business was not doing well, our family’s income was greatly reduced. This made it very hard for us to manage our resources against our needs. But the Lord provided ways for us to manage better. He gave us a great home-based business (coffee) to help tide us over. Amazingly, it’s doing great. He also used our families to help us cover other needs.
- The principle of truth and time. We learned to trust Him during times of trouble. We started to learn to rest in His divine purpose, way, and timing. God is omniscient, He knows everything. That all injustices, God knows everything. He is our righteous judge. The truth will eventually be revealed in time. We learned to be still and wait for the Lord.
What we are looking forward to this new year 2022?
Aside from our prayers to grow more in our faith in the Lord, we desire to have a more ordered life. It meant that our priorities and principles are set accordingly and our life’s decisions would be made based on them. And, we will trust the Lord more His providences on how our plan will play out.
We learned from our family worship sessions the story of how the Lord directs His people during their time in the wilderness (Read Exodus 13:21 and the rest of the book of Exodus, Leviticus, & Numbers). In the same way, we want to trust the Lord to be our guide. Where the Lord is, there we are. If the Lord makes us stay, then we stay. If the Lord directs us somewhere, then we move.
This is the overarching principle of how we plan to work our 2022. We read in Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand”. The Lord is sovereign. We may have a lot of plans ourselves yet we entrust everything to Him.
Before, we didn’t acknowledge sufferings working for God’s providence over our lives. We had negative reactions or attitudes, but this past year 2021, we gladly and humbly learned to acknowledge God’s hand, causing those adversities to work for our good (Romans 8:28); those who meant evil, God meant for good (Genesis 50:20) — we grew deeper in faith, in trust, and in obedience amidst difficulties. For 2022, we pray that we don’t fear anything because the Lord is with us, at the same time have the fear of the Lord more.
Before, I used to chase things that glitter. I planned to succeed in the wrong things in life. After many things we have gone through over the years, I think I am only able to wrap my mind to what Matthew 6:33 means. It’s to be right where God leads or commands us to be. That’s it.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. — Matthew 6:33 ESV
