This picture sums up how I feel about 2021.
To say that this year was a challenge is an understatement. There was so much sickness and death surrounding me. Someone even commented that it seemed like all my nice friends were dying. Never before has our mortality been so real and impossible to ignore than in 2021. Since the pandemic hit in 2020, it has caused a pause, a shifting in focus, a realignment of thinking about what really matters for eternity: relationship with God, and relationship with others.
How can we prepare for the inevitable? Many times when someone dies people say that they have gone to a better place. But in Mattew 7:21-28 God makes it very clear:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
It is one thing to say that we know about God, but do we really know God, and does He know us? This is where relationship comes in. The more time we spend with God, in His Word and through prayer, the more we will get to know His heart, and the more we will know what changes we need to make to please Him, and what His will is for our lives. We cannot say that we love God if we are not prepared to keep Him commands (1 John 5:3)
This is my prayer for myself, and for all my friends and family in 2022: that we would increase in our knowledge of God and grow in our intimacy with Him, so we can hear clearly when He speaks and be willing to follow His directives. Once we do this, we will be able to overcome every obstacle that comes our way, no matter how challenging it may seem.
I was reading Psalm 13 this morning, where David was expressing how he wrestled with his thoughts, day after day having sorrow in his heart, and I know this is something many of us can relate to with the amount of losses we experienced in 2021. But in the closing verses of verses 5 and 6 we see a shift in his focus, which could only have happened because of his relationship with God, when he said:
“But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for He has been good to me.”
In the midst of the challenge that was 2021, where I lost someone from almost every single family I am a part of - my Ekklesia family, my immediate family, my Grenadian family, my friends who are family, my extended family, my ITNAC family, my church family – I can testify of the Lord’s goodness to me:
* The emotional support provided by Lorraine Isidore, Laura Hunter and Purdey Rambharath in the months leading up to Daddy’s passing
* The help provided by Kathy Ogunbona, Lydia Obeng, Joel Dowlath and Sarah R. Dowlath after Daddy died, and the joy their children brought
* The wee hour of the morning conversations with Martha Wame, and Jaemie Gina Music when I couldn’t sleep in the days following Daddy’s passing
* The lifting of my spirits by Erica Edwards, Kerry Ann Duncan and Yvette Primus when I had to spend my birthday in quarantine 3 days after Daddy died and they brought food and flowers
* Avonelle Hector Joseph for always checking in with me even in the midst of her personal pain and all that was on her plate
* The opportunity I had to travel and be reunited with my sisters and nephews after 2 long years apart
* The comfort I received from Kathy Ogunbona and Lydia Obeng in Baltimore when I found out that my cousin died
* The comfort I received from Laura Hunter in Florida when I found out that Keisha and Danny died
* The privilege of going to a beach in Miami after being locked out of our beaches at home for 7 long months
* Reversing into a man’s car by mistake the day before I left for Tobago and he being so gracious about it and not making it into a big scene
* The joy of being in Tobago 2 days after our beaches were finally opened in December
* The support and care shown by too many of you to mention
I am truly honored to be blessed with such a loving and supportive community who God used to carry me through the challenge that was 2021. I don’t know what 2022 holds, but I know that the same God who sustained me through 2021 is more than able to take me through 2022. See less
