The Lessons of 2018

Hey

I know I have been away for a while and I do need to be more consistent with this blog. I need to make more time for my writing and my little digital home.

2018 has been a slow year but some things did happened. Back in June, my church building caught fire and the building was completely destroys. At first it was devastating. I actually still cannot believe at times that it happened. Seven months on, my church family and I have relocated to a temporary building and the preparation for re-building are on their way. Others events in my personal life also made me ‘busy’ for lack of better words.

But I still enjoy writing and I want to share what God has been telling me for most of last year.

So I will share it in this first post of the year.

Surrender

At the beginning of 2018, I received a not so pleasant new. It was something I did not expected and it rocked me pretty bad. I cried a lot and felt really broken. But somehow in the mist of the trauma, I prayed one of my most honest prayer. I surrendered completely to God. I let go of controlling everything and decided to believe and trust his plans more than mine. I chose to be led more by him. I may not have all the answers and may not understand his plan but I trust that he is for me and that all things will work for my own good and his glory at the end.

Fighting for joy

Life is not always fair. The world can be cruel and we will get hurt. Nevertheless, we have to appreciate our moment on this earth. One thing that a friend of mine love to point at is that there is light and there is darkness. The darkness help us to appreciate the light.

There is some beauty in this journey and we ought to fight for joy. Joy is a very important ingredient of life. It is not to be confused with happiness. Happiness is a fleeting feeling usually based on external factor and can be changing. It is often a an intense pleasure that does not truly fulfil us. Joy on the other hand is more of an internal feeling of contentment. It is deeper and consistent. It requires a fight because most element of this life will push us to the ground and we have to remind ourselves every day to look on the bright side. It is not always easy, but we ought to try it.

God wants us to be joyful. The joy he gives is also a particular joy. His Joy comes from the moment we center our lives on him. When we think about his amazing love and the way he carry us in this life.

Joy starts with gratitude.

Practising gratitude

By nature, I am quite negative. I tend to look for the ‘wrongs’ in everything and my too realistic approach makes me cynical at times. But 2018 make me realise that I need to reset my mindset. Always thinking that things will go wrong will not make them go right.

It is actually better for me to focus on the good and most importantly on what I have. I have to focus on my blessings instead of what is missing. I have so much to be thankful for. I have been through so much and I am still standing. I have things now that I used to pray before.

I do not know what 2019 will have in store for me but I am sure that God will carry me no matter what. I did not make resolutions nor did I set specific goals for this year. I did choose a word for 2019. It came to me one day to me while I was journalling and I though about it a lot but I want passion to be my word this year.

I want to be passionate about my writing, life, my family, my friend, my relationship with God, everything. I don’t know how much I have left on this earth but I want to make sure to enjoy the ride.

I want my life to be an adventure not a chore.

Yveline