When is the last time you really stepped back and thought about how far you’ve come?
Because you have.
I just finished the notebook I use for church. It helps me focus to take notes. The nerd in me also writes down the place we are and who is speaking, so I have a record of what’s going on in our life.
And wow, what a couple of years.
When I started this notebook, we were still doing drive in church because our building is so small.
Now, finishing the notebook, I was able to hug people and see their smiles.
My husband and I are right now in the middle of moving from the place where we lived for years. And I’m happy about where we’re going and excited about starting a new chapter, but leaving is hard too.
A lot has happened here. Lots of good memories. But also times that were harder than I ever expected to go through.
My notebook is right. God above all other things.
Time and places and people come and go. God is the only constant.
I’ve changed a lot too. The me who moved to this town straight out of college to go to graduate school for physical therapy probably wouldn’t recognize the me I am now.
In ways that’s good. I hope I’m more empathetic now. Stronger. Able to find peace in the chaos.
Life has a way of wearing us down at times. Maybe one day I’ll skip around the house without thinking about it again. And the smile I never tried to make will stay on my face almost all the time.
But if I look back, the times we’ve weathered, younger me wouldn’t have thought I could.
The Bible talks about people being refined. There’s a lot to that, maybe a chat for another day, but it’s a process God is constantly a part of.
We don’t get in situations and God just walks off and leaves us to muddle our way through or sink.
He’s already seen what’s coming and He gets us ready for it. Not because he wants us to suffer, but because this world isn’t perfect and He knows how to get us through it.
I’m glad I didn’t know what the last two years would bring. And I’m glad I don’t know what’s in the next two. There will be good, and there will be bad.
But there will always be God.
-Heather
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Heather Tabata 