Thankful, Even in 2020

Thankfulness in 2020, let's talk about it! 2020 has been the most unexpected, unbelievably surprising year yet. We started out the year with people fearing WW3, followed by 20% of Australia's forests burning, that is 32,000,000 acres burned to ash and 3,000,000,000 animals dead. These fires ended in February of 2020.

Just after, President Trump closed the borders to America from outside travel due to the COVID19 outbreak running through Europe and starting to reach the USA. The world as we knew it had come to a stop. Travel around the nation and around the world was greatly slowed down. Many planes were no longer being used due to a vast decline in travel.

State by state, shutdowns ran ramped throughout the country. Many people were unemployed, college students were made to stay home after spring break and finish online, grade schools were sent home for virtual learning, churches were shut down made to go online, sports seasons came to a halt, and so many more things happened in the midst of the shutdowns. Every individual in the world has been affected by COVID19 in some way whether contracting it, knowing someone who did or having their lives flipped upside down by this pandemic. The world for the first time in ages came to a stop.

2020 would continue to tug at the strings of our lives and emotions as the Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, and political protests took over the country. These movements played a huge role, yet again, in the lives of every indiviudal. No matter what side you were on in the movements and protests, they affected every citizen.

Maybe you are struggling this Thanksgiving to be thankful for something? Maybe your state's cases are beginning to rise yet again and you worry about going through all the shutdowns YET AGAIN? Maybe the election has you worried, nervous, and drained from the overflow of drama involved in it? So, I am going to tell you what I am thankful for. God has taught me so many things this crazy year, although I can not share them all in this short blog, I will share some to encourage you all to be thankful for what you do have instead of depressed for what you don't.

BE IN THE MOMENT...

In 2020, we had no choice but to stop and be still. Both of these things are truly a struggle for me. For years, I have been burning at both ends of the candle, running from one task to the next, in a constant busy mentality. My mind is always on the next thing instead of enjoying and being in the current moment I am in. 2020 has been an unexpected year but it has been an amazing year because God taught me how to be still and know.

Psalm 46:10 "He says, 'Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth'."

In the year 2020, God taught me to slow down, be in His presence, and just be in the moment. We let so many moments pass us by because we are so busy today. We live in a hustle and bustle world 24/7 but COVID19 caused the world to slow down, enjoy more family time, and focus on what matters. Jobs are important, in-person church is important, fellowship is important, but God is the foundation, or should be anyways, of everything we do.

When I get busy, it is easy to allow my devotional life to be the first thing I let slip out of my daily life. When I get busy, my family seems to become easy to make less a priority than work and school. Family and God should not be taken as a second to my career and my education but it is so easy to do that. When the world stopped in 2020 priorities were evaluated. People began to have time for all the things they did not have the time for when they were at school, work, traveling, etc.

Through this November, I have been challenging myself to be in the moment, not on my phone all the time but just enjoying each moment for what it is. Part of the reason I am posting a blog later in the month than planned was my battle to make myself be in the moment with my family while prioritizing God and family over school and career. This was a much-needed lesson for me to learn and I made changes in my life to allow myself to do just that. I am still learning and growing this skill of prioritizing my days God, family, and then everything else. This lesson is not an easy one but one that I would not be learning without 2020 happening how it did.

For me, the biggest thing I am thankful for is how 2020 forced me to stop, be still, and know my God for the intelligent author of life that He is. His plans are better than anything I could ever attempt. This pandemic forced me to seek a different career path in counseling and I found myself at a job that I now love! As you are with your families this Thanksgiving, as you go about the festivities of the holidays, never forget to be still and know who your God is. 2020 has been crazy but it can be the craziest growing year for you if you let it. I know it has been that for me.

One more truth I will leave you with in the midst of the fear many have about what may change in our soon future with the pandemic and the election is this:

Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

The world will always be changing, the ones in power will always be changing, but the one thing that stays the same is the God who gave you this life to live and the God that loves you for all of eternity.