2020. What a year.
When thinking of how to begin a post like this, that was really all that came to mind. 2020 was unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life. (I mean, a worldwide pandemic. Come on, who would've ever in a million years expected that to happen?) It did, though.
Unexpected. That's the word that comes to mind as I think about how things unfolded in 2020.
March 2020, classes go online. That was unexpected. Churches go online. That was unexpected. COVID-19 changes everything. That was unexpected. Multiple people in my family come down with COVID-19 right before Thanksgiving, and we go into quarantine. That was unexpected. I take communion at home on Christmas Eve with water and a Ritz cracker. That was unexpected.
My sweet papaw passes away with COVID-19. That was sure unexpected.
If you had told me at the beginning of 2020 that my papaw would not be here when New Years rolled back around. There is no way I would have believed you. Sure, he was in his eighties, but he was healthy and so active. I was so sure he would be there when I graduated college, got married, and even had kids. I was sure of it.
But that wasn't God's plan. God's plan was for my papaw to leave his world on December 14, 2020.
What I'm really just now realizing is that God used 2020 to teach me that the only thing we can really expect & be sure of is Him.
We can expect God to be faithful. We can expect God to be loving. We can expect God to be good. We can expect God to provide. We can expect God to give us peace. We can expect God to teach & convict us. We can expect God to save souls. We can expect God to bring the prodigals home. We can expect God to be God.
The unexpected may have happened in 2020, but some of it should have been expected. The "some of it" I am referring to is the work that God did throughout 2020.
I believe souls were saved in 2020. I believe some who knew Jesus but had strayed from Him came back home. I believe God showed us that the Church is more than just a building. I believe some of even the most dedicated of Christians grew in their faith. I believe God protected us in ways we may never even know about. I believe God looked out for us more than we realize. I believe God was God.
So, 2020 sure wasn't a perfect year, but along with every other previous year, it was a year filled with the presence of God.
Coming into 2021, let's be expectant. Expectant of the right things. Expectant of a great move of God. (Even if that move of God doesn't look like you think it should).
Expect God to move in 2021. You can expect it because well, it is going to happen.
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