A friend brought a Hot Chocolate Bomb to me just days before New Year’s Eve. Oh my! It is named appropriately. If you are a chocolate lover, like me, this is definitely the BOMB! Her tag was cute. On the front it said, 2021 (finally!). On the back were the instructions for preparing the hot chocolate bomb. I got a chuckle out of the 2021 (finally) as I thought back to 2020 and the desire of many to have that year behind us.

In April and May, my family was saying, “There is no way this can last through the summer.” In the summer we were saying, “There is no way this will last until the election.” Once the election arrived, we stopped predicting and settled into, “Only God knows how long this will last!” Well, 2020 is gone—all 365 days are behind us.

On New Year’s Day, my daughter and family came for dinner. As we were seated eating our meal, my granddaughter, Avery, said, “Let’s go around the table and name three things we did not like about 2020, and three things we liked or are thankful for from this past year.” As we went around the table, most of the three things that were disliked were restrictions or limitations related to Covid-19.

I would imagine that most of the things on our list were the same as what you and your family would mention if you had the same discussion. Our lists went something like this: Masks, social distancing, lack of community, school closures, churches closing their doors and cancelling activities, summer camps cancelled, sports cancelled, stores with restrictions or being closed all together, and the exposure of the corruption within the political and corporate community of our country. 

What was interesting was when each person got to the things they liked or were thankful for from 2020; not one of us could limit our list to just three things! The list went on and on. Things like:  More time as a family, more time with Mimi, trips to see extended family, a trip to help a great grandmother move, the salvation of two grandchildren, bike rides, hikes in the park , walks along the Greenline, getting to know neighbors better, talks with dad late at night, a trip to the lake in Oklahoma to see family, dad’s job, time to write curriculum, celebrating a 16^th birthday with friends, spending less money due to less trips to the store, new church friends, trip to the beach, fall trip to east Tennessee, my prayer life deepened, more time with the Lord, a trip to see old friends in Georgia, the education they are receiving at North Star Academy and through homeschooling (came about due to Covid-19), God’s provision, finding a new church, ski trip with church youth, a new baby added to the family, and on and on it went.

I know because of the road I walked with my husband, Mark, as he battled Multiple Systems Atrophy for eleven years, that God redeems even the hardest of things—Covid-19 included. We will never understand the “why” of life’s circumstances, but we can always trust the WHO of those circumstances.

 Did God create Covid-19? No.

Did He allow Covid-19? Yes.

You may be asking, “Why did God allow it?”

The answer lies in your list of things you are thankful for because of 2020. In embracing hardship, we are given new eyes, eyes that see life from a new perspective. We receive a renewed heart, a heart of gratitude to our God who knows best!

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth making it bring forth and sprout,  giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;  it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,  and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Isaiah 55:8-11 ESV

Thank you for loving the Secrets ministry, the tool God created for bringing community between generations of women for His glory!

Happy New Year!

Dianne