“And beginning with Moses and all the prophets He carefully unveiled to them the revelation of Himself throughout the Scriptures.” Luke 24:27
What did 2021 look like for you?
The transition from one calendar year into another always seems to bring about a time of reflection and a phase of eager anticipation as to what lies ahead. No matter if it has come from a friend, a family member, the pastor at church, or yourself – we have all likely been exposed to this very question within the past few weeks.
So, what was your answer? What did 2021 look like for you?
Did you experience a big transition? Did you welcome new life into the world? Did you lose a loved one? Did you experience a job promotion? Job loss? Marriage? Pregnancy? Miscarriage? A new home? New friends? Loss of old friends? A new vehicle? A wrecked vehicle? Travel? Did you step out of your comfort zone? Were there times of joy in 2021? How about hurt or sorrow? A list of our own personal 2021 experiences could go on and on, let alone a cumulative list for everyone! Regardless, I truly want you to pause and and if somehow you’ve escaped this question over the past two weeks, take some time to sit with your 2021 before reading on.
With the new year quickly approaching, I reflected on this question myself. What had 2021 looked like for me? In thinking back to January of 2021, with the help of some photos to trigger my memory, my immediate answer was simple.
“This year has looked nothing like I would’ve thought nor planned.”
And I mean NOTHING.
I began my year in Boston, Massachusetts as a travel nurse. From there, though I thought I’d soon be heading to Costa Rica, I spent a month in Ohio with my family before packing up my car and driving west. I had no plan in mind and left my scrubs behind as I followed where I felt the Lord was leading me at the time. I eventually made my way back to Lake Tahoe, where I had spent nine months of 2020. I was lakeside for nearly four months. I spent some time with friends that I had made during my stay in 2020, but I also spent a lot of that time alone with the Lord. I had endless hours to study scripture, read, and write. I explored his beautiful creation with the daylight and slept under the sparkle of His stars many of those nights. It was during that time that I was accepted into a position on the disaster response team for Samaritan’s Purse.
In August I signed a contract for a local hospital, but due to pre-employment delays my start date was pushed back. While awaiting the new start date, I was deployed with the disaster response team and the local job eventually fell through. My deployment with Samaritan’s Purse was incredibly impactful on my life and on my walk with the Lord. After a few additional weeks spent on the east coast post-deployment, I flew back to my car, which had been left behind in Nevada. No plans… again. An amazing opportunity to help a specific and hurting population was placed before me, but after much prayer, it was clear that God was saying “Though it is a good opportunity, it is not your opportunity.” Fast forward and I signed a contract for a travel nursing assignment in Colorado, which was canceled one day later. That very night, I was notified that a seasonal position on the call center for Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Christmas Child had been posted and that is exactly where I found myself for the remainder of the year.
Like I said, last year was nothing like I would’ve guessed. Had you told me while I was working as a travel nurse in Boston on January 1st, 2021 that I would be a call center nurse on December 31st, 2021… well, I might not have laughed in your face out of courtesy, but I don’t think that I would’ve agreed with you! The same holds true had you told me that I was going to spend four months without nursing or missions in the midst of my year. I never would have thought that I wouldn’t leave the country even one time in the year of 2021 or that I would only work one assignment as a travel nurse.
Do you have your list? Your timeline of 2021? Seriously, write it out. Is that list what you would’ve predicted had you been asked in December of 2020?
Now, I want to challenge you to take that very first question of “What did 2021 look like for you?” a step further. Look at your list and ask, “What did God do in and through my life in 2021, so far as I can see at this time? Where is His hand? How has He grown me? Molded me? Guided me?”
When I thought through my list before asking this question, I saw a jumbled mess of puzzle pieces. A travel nursing contract. Four months sleeping under the stars. A disaster response. Two canceled contracts. A job behind a computer screen. Surely, those don’t fit together. There is clearly no flow from one thing to the next.
But then, I began to look at my year through the lens of this question; through the lens of the Lord. One by one, those discombobulated puzzle pieces began to fit together. They began to make sense. Even the canceled contracts were pertinent in the way that the Lord was growing me, molding me, and guiding me.
Through the journey of my year I was given priceless time with my friends and my family. The Lord gave me a season of rest to grow nearer to Him before being launched into months of walking in the world. My love for nursing and for missions was united for the first time and in that, the Lord reconfirmed my passion and the direction in which I was headed. Working from behind a computer screen has taught me how to love through words alone, without a smile or my hand on someone’s shoulder and it gave me another season to be still with the Lord.
What about you? What do you see in your year when you look at it through the lens of the Lord?
When I step back from the list of events throughout my year and I look at it through the lens of the Lord, I see one overarching theme. He drew me nearer. I have fallen more in love with the Lord. My desire to know Him and to follow Him has been magnified. My love for His Word has deepened. That spark in my soul has been ignited to a whole new level. I want more of Him and less of me, with every day. He is my satisfaction, my strength, my Father and my friend.
My hope is that you can say the same. My hope is that you can step back from your list, though it may look drastically different than mine, and see the same theme, because I can promise you one thing. God desires for you to be nearer.
On Sunday morning, our pastor spoke on Luke 24:13-35. If you have a moment, I encourage you to read through this passage. This story takes place on the third day after the crucifixion of Jesus, His body now missing from the tomb. Cleopas and another man were trekking away from Jerusalem and talking about the events of the past few days when Jesus “walked up and accompanied them on their journey.” Jesus inquired as to what they were talking about and unaware that they were speaking with Jesus himself, Cleopas gave Him a brief rundown of what was happening. They told Him about Jesus’ life, journey, and death on the cross, expressing that their hope in Him as the Redeemer had been deflated.
I want to draw your attention to verse 27 of Jesus’ reply. “And beginning with Moses and all the prophets He carefully unveiled to them the revelation of Himself throughout the Scriptures.”
Our pastor pointed out that Jesus could have rebuked the two men for many things in this moment, but rather He took the opportunity to draw them nearer to Him. Jesus cared so much about these two men and their understanding of Him, that He utilized this opportunity AND His time to more greatly reveal Himself to them.
If this is true of these two ordinary followers of Jesus, is it not the same for you and I today?
So, I want to ask you one more time: What did 2021 look like for you?
With so much love,
Your Sister in Christ
