God is Always at Work!

As we come to the end of the year, I reflect on all that has happened this last year. As I look ahead, I think about what the year ahead holds for our family.  Several years ago, I had gotten away from the whole new year's resolution thing, and in recent years I had tried to choose one word to focus on the whole year. Unfortunately, I sometimes find myself forgetting what the word I have chosen is, especially at the end of the year, because I had yet to figure out the best way to incorporate that word into my everyday life. 

This morning I had the brilliant idea to look back at my blogs from the beginning of the year to see if it gave me any clue as to this year's word. So far I have not found it. I likely wrote it in my journal that is back "home" in West Africa. However, I found blogs revealing how God was working in my heart, preparing me for what came at the end of the year, just as the year had begun. 

"I am that Marred Piece of Wood."  God has an image of me, the way that He created me, which is marred by my sin. Thankfully, He does not leave me in that sin but rather continues to shape and mold me into the image He has of me. I have definitely felt like He has been chipping away at me to make me more like Himself. 

"Metamorphosis." Laws of nature prove that pressure and heat bring about refining and beauty. So why do we as humans tend to run from this law of nature? At the time, I was pondering a relationship that was not easy and I wanted to avoid, but it was a relationship which has brought much refining into my life. I had no clue how much refining God had in store for me, and He still has a long way to go.

"Human Being or Human Doing?"  I reflected on how God had grown me over the years from one who was constantly doing to one learning to be what the Lord would have me be. In this time of chemotherapy and surgery, I have had a lot more time to "be still and know" than I had planned. The learning to be rather than do I had experienced was merely scratching the surface of what the Lord longed to show me. 

"It's not About You!" I explored the fact that we often, even using scripture, comfort others with the idea that difficult situations will work out for our good. However, it really is not about us, not me, not you. It is about God receiving the glory!  Though I do not yet see the whole picture, I know this time is not about me but about His glory. 

God was working in my heart preparing me through various lessons for what would come later in the year.  God also laid it on the hearts of some to begin praying for us a month before going to the doctor, where the lump was found on ultrasound. We thought the prayers were for the busyness that we were in at the time. It has become clear that God was working to prepare support for us before we even knew we needed it. God is not ignorant nor does He make mistakes. God is always at work around us. I look forward to seeing how He is going to work in the year to come. 

This will likely be my last post of the year. While there were times in the year that I wrote little to nothing due to Internet issues, I was much more prolific in other months. I had a goal to blog weekly this year. This blog is number 52 for the year, which averages one a week. Thank You, God, for how You have worked in me this year. To You, alone, be the glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen!