I’m sure that if I asked you to describe the year 2020, a few negative adjectives would pop in. It was turbulent, challenging, tempestuous, damn right difficult, tough, and filled with hurts. We’ve had/seen losses either from the corona virus or from other things. Worst part is that it all happened just at once… so overwhelming!

Personally, I’ve experienced many changes in my career, relationships, finances and even in my health. It’s like the year has been hitting me from every possible angle. I’ve cried, done stupid things, regretted said stupid things, made life changing decisions, struggled with depression, hopelessness, and I’ve had to live with the realities of a health condition. To top that up, this was the year where we couldn’t see friends or get that much needed hug on the trying days.

Normally, this would be our annual Think-Thank Challenge, but this year I’ve managed to do so much of thinking (mostly overthinking!) and more of facing the challenges this year brought (and crumbling under some). To be honest, I haven’t done enough thanking.

I look back on this exact day last year, and I see how my life has somewhat been thrust right out of balance. Nothing about this year was normal. But what even is normal? Maybe for us to achieve said normality, there has to be this massive disruption in the way things are. Think about it, the changes this year brought to the way businesses are carried out, jobs are done, even events are handled… maybe we all need to see things differently. Maybe this year just came to jostle things back to the right way they ought to be. Maybe this is the year that made us (not the year that broke us).

I’m here today, and so are you. I make no promises that this is the end of the tempestuous year. But I’m here to remind you that life in itself is a blessing. Sound mind is a blessing. Family, love, shelter, food, clothing, are all blessings. And if you can take some minutes to think about it today, I’m sure you’d find good things that happened even in what seemed to be the darkest year for all us.

I pray for healing for everyone who’s been hurting. I pray for the restoration of hope for everyone who’s been hopeless. As surely as the sun rises in the morning and the moon at night, I’m confident that God will never leave nor forsake us. He remains really close to the broken-hearted. I know that he’ll heal the hurt.

With that, I usher you into a new chapter full of endless possibilities.

See you next year!

Love,

M.❤️