Whew! It’s been a year. For those of you following along my
crazy journey here’s a little recap:

The new year started out pretty boring aside from my husband working from home due to Covid-19. For the first time in a while nothing in our lives changed. We embraced the peace and spent the season growing together as a family. We enjoyed time with our family as well as our new church family. Like people who are parched from lack of water, we drank up all the time we were able to get with every one of them and thanked God for the joy and peace we finally felt after enduring a full year of loss and depression due to the events of 2019.

We read tons of books, spent a lot of time in the running stroller to get that exercise in, and went strawberry picking. One of my favorite memories was when Eula and I both got to try an exfoliating face mask for the first time. We rate this type of self care a 10/10.

We made it to May and my spunky mini-me also made it through tonsil and adenoid surgery in the middle of a pandemic. After a 24 hour hospital stay she came home and didn’t miss a beat. So we continued our season of peace with lots of ice cream, jello, tricycle rides, outside time, and of course, books.

We survived the summer heat with lots of time at the pool. Eula even got to go on her first float trip and loved every minute of it. So did we.

So here we are! A family of 4. Thanking the Lord for a year of peace and memories that we will cherish forever after a season of so much sorrow. As I think back to last year I can still remember every bit of the loss and confusion that hovered over me like a storm cloud every single day. Year 2019 was a year I thought my life, the dreams I had, and who I was as a person had shattered.

2020 was a year of being molded and redeemed. The plans, desires and expectations of 2019 that I felt were completely destroyed if not impossible were no longer seen that way. It’s as if I was a completely blank pallett in 2020. Not by choice. I had a lot of conversations with God that I had to ask forgiveness for but as I look back on that time I now realize that every single thing my family and I went through had a purpose.

God took took the blank pallet and created the most beautiful masterpiece with realizations, desires, and expectations that aligned with what He wanted from me and my family. I say all of this to tell you that whatever your circumstance is- it’s not over.

That dream in your heart that feels impossible? It’s not. That painful situation that feels as if you may never be able to recover from? Healing will come. The loss you endured that you never saw coming? It’s not the end, friend. Feel all the feelings. Mourn and be sad. Cry out to God with your confusion. He hears you. He’s doing a work in you.

It’s okay to take it one moment at a time. God won’t condone you for that. He’s right there with you in the middle of it. He’s taking every situation and making the most beautiful masterpiece. I wouldn’t change a single thing our family went through because we grew closer to each other and to God because of it. The same goes for you. Every single thing you go through in this life plays a role in helping you pursue God’s path for your life.

~ Lovelle ❤