My Prayer for 2021

2020 has been a year like no other, filled with deep loss and heart ache within my family as well as around the whole world with the global pandemic. It has definitely been one of the hardest years of my life! 

So many heartaches:

• Having to say goodbye to my precious Dad in February until we see Him on the other side of Heaven
• The pain of trying to navigate life without Dad
  
• Seeing friends and family around me struggle with loss of jobs and also loss of family members from the pandemic.
• Personal struggle with emotions
• Isolation on many levels

Yet, despite the intense, stabbing pain this year, I have been so comforted by the fact that God has been good and faithful through it all. Isaiah 43:2, says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.”  

I can truly say that God has been WITH US and sustained us and been our All in all throughout this entire year. He has been our Good Shepherd walking us THROUGH these deep and dark valleys of life. It is only because of His goodness and faithfulness that we can rejoice in Him. 

Even in the crushing pain and tears, as I reflect back on 2020, I can truly see that the Lord has been with us every step of the way.  I can also see the many ways God was at work and has been shining His light through the darkness:

• He took Dad Home to Heaven before the world shut down from the pandemic, which enabled us to have the most sweetest and God-honoring funeral for Dad.
• He has given us Hope and Joy in the midst of the tears, and His Peace in the midst of the storms
• He is helping us to have an eternal perspective
• He has provided sweet family times and precious friends to pray with us and walk with us through this grief journey
• He has provided verses and truth-filled songs at just the right times to encourage our grief-stricken hearts.

At the beginning of the year, He gave Psalms 23 as a passage for the new year and to remind us that He is our Good Shepherd leading and guiding us through the valleys and mountaintops of life. 

"The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not [be in] want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my should. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You [O Lord] are WITH ME; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. You prepare before me a table in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; MY CUP OVERFLOWS. Surely goodness and mercy shall fallow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever." - Psalms 23

I praise Him for the ways He has been with us, sustaining us, healing us, guiding us, and providing for us in every way and showing us more of Himself.  

It is only because of His grace and goodness that we can still sing.... Just like this song proclaims:

“I love You Lord
Oh Your mercy never fails me
All my days
I’ve been held in Your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
I will sing of the goodness of God

Chorus
All my life You have been faithful
All my life You have been so, so good
With every breath that I am able
I will sing of the goodness of God

Verse 2
I love Your voice
You have led me through the fire
In darkest nights

You are close like no other
I’ve known You as a father

I’ve known You as a friend
I have lived in the goodness of God" - The Goodness of God by Bethel

As I continue to press on and head into 2021, I have so many prayers for this year. I pray that I would be a better wife, mom, and friend. I hope to grow more spiritually and take better care of my soul and my body so I can better serve my King. 

Thus, my prayer for 2021 will be summed up in these verses in Colossians 1:9-12 to walk in a manner worthy of my Lord, and also in Hebrews 12:1-2 to run the race Christ has set for me with perseverance and keeping my eyes on HIM. For He is coming back VERY soon and I don’t want to keep wasting my time and resources. I pray that this year I may truly live for eternity and give Him the glory He deserves.

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him; bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” - Colossians 1:9-12

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” - Hebrews 12:1-2