2020 has been a year of hard knocks. I don’t care who you are, but I don’t think anyone had an easy year. Some are jobless, some are mourning the loss of loved ones, and some are living in day-to-day fear, loneliness, and frustration. It was a year of missed plans, disappointment, and cancelled travels. It might seem, as we approach Thanksgiving, that there is not much to be thankful for. Instead, we may want to hide in our homes, order in, and shake our fists at God for all the things that aren’t going for us.

When I was a little girl, my grandma had this bookshelf with a series of short story books on it. I remember I loved to look at them, the spines straight like soldiers in a row, all the same color, all the same size, and lined from one end of the shelf to the other, yet all incredibly different on the inside.

Sometimes there are seasons of our lives full of growing pains, adjustments, suffering, and sadness. Unfortunately, that’s just how life is sometimes. There are days when we wonder what it's all for; what is the purpose of our suffering and our sadness? That’s when we need to look past our circumstance and see the greater purpose– to honor our father and be a walking testament of his love.

Sure, James. Easier said than done. That’s always what I think when I hear the above verses. The fact of the matter is, no one wants to talk about suffering much less go through it. And let’s face it: it’s always going to be easy for people who have never walked through your same test to tell you to delight in the fact that you’re being tested. It’s always going to be our first, knee-jerk reaction to say, “Well, it’s easy for you to say, because you’re not living with this trainwreck of a situation.”

God left us with a mission. In our key verse, we see that He left Paul with the same mission: to be His hands and feet on this earth– to spread the truth of the gospel across the nations so that every ear would hear the wondrous name of Jesus. Our call and Paul’s call are one and the same. If we continue to experience God and draw close to Him, our compassion for others and confidence to tell them about Jesus should continuously grow.

Prayer is my jam this week. Why? I was challenged by a new friend to take part in a seven-day prayer challenge, designed to deepen and enrich prayer life by focusing it past all the requests and drivel that tends to bog down our time with God. Over the past few days, changing and repurposing certain details of my prayer time has reignited my desire to share my heart and time with Jesus.