Hope Writer Writing Challenge Day 4: Twenty-One

 

At the beginning of 2020, I was searching for a "Word of the Year" for myself and felt that the word "hope" kept showing up in my life. I was not particularly down or hopeless at the time and wondered what that could mean. With the crazy events that occurred in 2020, I needed hope a lot! I did not always feel hopeful and sought encouragement and hope from the Bible and trusted friends and family members that helped me along my path. Amidst the heartbreak of 2020 and a global pandemic, I was still able to find some hope and feel even more hopeful for 2021. 

The year 2021 seems to be a year of hope for many people with COVID vaccinations rolling out around the country and the availability of them opening up for thousands more people each week. We have hope that after many people are vaccinated that we will finally find relief from this virus and the havoc it has caused our whole world.  I have hope that I will get together with family and friends again, sing in church again, that the healthcare system will return to normal, and that our economy will recover and thrive.

The year 2021 will surely bring challenges and a whole range of emotions and events, like every year. However, I am hopeful that this year will be the better half of this first two chapters in this decade and that we are learning from the lessons of the past. We will always have difficulties and troubles while we are on this earth, however, our only true hope can be found in Jesus!  Our troubles seem to never go away, but one day they will end and only God's wonderful eternal kingdom will remain and we will not have to worry anymore. While we are on earth, we will have troubles, but God gives us joy, peace, and hope as we trust in Him.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

 

 

The Blessings of 2020

 

Counting Our Blessings

It's been fun to go back through my photos of 2020 and see so many happy memories.  The year 2020 will be remembered as a year filled with hard, scary, sad, frustrating times, but my photos remind me of the good things that also happened and the blessings of 2020!  These 12 photos are snapshots highlighting a memory from each month of the past year, although the year held many more memories of amazing people that we are blessed to know.

2020 looked much different than we had planned, but we were able to treasure the moments that we could spend with those we love.  My mom endured cancer treatments and two surgeries and hospitalizations, but she is back to a much healthier and more active life again now.  We had so much social, economic, racial, and political unrest going on in our country and it was sad, upsetting, and hard to see going on.  Amidst lock-downs, masks, and quarantines, we even had some celebrations, did some traveling, and made new friends.  Three of us survived and recovered from COVID and we were given a lot of time together as a family unit!  

A song that I listened to on countless walks throughout this year was "Counting Every Blessing" by Rend Collective.  It is an upbeat, positive song that helped me to stay focused on all of the good things in life even when I was down and the chorus says:

I am counting every blessing, counting every blessing, letting go and trusting when I cannot see.  I am counting every blessing, counting every blessing, surely every season You are good to me.

As I reflect once again on our past year, I am reminded of many fun and wonderful memories, in spite of the heartache.  We learned and experience new things and made it through a trying year, together.  We are counting our blessings and looking forward to a new year and a fresh start every day!