(I wrote this last night before worship team rehearsal for Beacon of Hope. Not long after I wrote this, the rest of the worship team and I spent some time reflecting on God's faithfulness to each of us over the years. I hope in reading this you are encouraged as well with how great and faithful our God is.)
It's so crazy. Just over a year ago I was out here interviewing for a job at Beacon. And I can remember a night during that brief visit when Michael [Delahunt, my roommate] and I went over to the Somervilles' for a game night. It was really rainy all day, and the sun was setting as we were driving to their house. I can remember that night, right on the horizon, the clouds were breaking up a little bit and you could just make out the red sunset through the thick cloud cover. It is one of the most distinct memories I have from that visit last year.
Now fast forward to today. The weather is very much the same, I don't think I've seen the rain stop at all while I've been out and about. It's Thursday, which means that we have worship team rehearsal. And as I was driving over for rehearsal, I saw that same break in the clouds right near the horizon, just as the sun was setting. It was beautiful. I'm also very certain that the Somervilles are hosting another game night tonight, which I won't be able to attend this time.
It's crazy that on a day like this, not much seems to have changed. And yet so much has changed between then and now. 12 months ago I didn't have a job; since then I've had three jobs, and I'm still employed at two of them. I moved 2000 miles away from almost everyone I've ever known in my life, and I've made a lot of new friends. In many ways, I feel like Job at the end of God's explanation for all that had happened to him: "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ... I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You" (Job 42:2,5). The Lord has revealed Himself so clearly in the ways that He has provided for me to live out here.
I know that this next year will be full of a lot of the same provisions, and that makes me want to work even harder for His sake in my life. May this next year be filled with the praise and declaration of God's glorious grace in my life.