It seems like everyone needs lifted after a year like 2020.
Everyone took a hit. We were knocked down. An unprecedented year in the world when life as we knew it altered.
Coronavirus ended up invading every country and took peoples' lives swiftly. It caused lockdowns, fear, economies to falter, and government leaders to struggle.
Masks were put on. Hand sanitizer was applied. Businesses and schools were shut down.
We were told to get down and stay down. To not go out unless absolutely necessary. God have mercy!
While we were waiting and watching and staying in and staying down... other hits came as they always do in life.
Sickness, fatigue, stress. Other crazy situations came out of nowhere in many places. Natural disasters, fighting, protests, crashes.
Our down position became lower and we felt squashed and paralyzed. Unable to move. Was this the beginning of the end?
We needed and longed for relief. A hand up, a hand out, something to give, something to break ... so life could be more normal like it was before.
Here in Ethiopia, we were hit like everyone else. Coronavirus came slower here than in other places. But schools and businesses shut, masks came on, and people struggled.
We crouched down and waited for clearance to move, to open.
The down and closed position felt like an eternity.
In the walled in spaces, behind the masks and closed doors, worry and fear crept in. Would Covid get me? My family? Would I swiftly be taken without a goodbye? Satan likes to mess with us and make us forget that we don't have to be afraid.
But like everyone else on the planet, when I coughed or sneezed... I worried. Is this the end? Super hard.
Yet in these times... of worry and fear....I found deep prayer and deep sorrow and deep gratitude for the roads behind and for people I've met and loved and for the life I've already gotten to live. I remembered why were here and that our lives are a very delicate balance and we are ONLY sustained by God. I was humbled by realizing how quickly it could end and we could be with God.
Priorities and perspective and humility came in the quiet days and behind the masks... as I continued to hope for and look for the chance to get up again and live more fully and freely.
Finally in November, our school began to open and we started to move some. Though under strict protocol ... we were given permission to start groups of students and let them finish their school year in a "crash program." And it sincerely felt like a "crash." It started with our graduating class students.
Some of my favorite and best students of all time would finish. We told them ... you will need to get up, help each other up, and make a mad dash towards the finish line. I watched them do just that... they got up, and moved together towards their finish line...
We also had surprise hits here in Ethiopia, that actually ended up frightening people even more than Covid.... We had tribal fighting break out. Then civil war and a big humanitarian crisis loomed in our north (it's still not resolved).
But as I watched this GC (graduating class) group rise up, help each up, and push towards their finish line, I was moved and awed and inspired. I felt hopeful.
On Graduation day, Dec 19, 2020, 350 plus Hope University College students turned their tassels...and I felt deep emotion. They might not have thought it was an epic finish...but it was! I will be telling their stories the rest of my life of how this class persevered!!!!
What God has been reminding me during this past CRAZY YEAR...is of is our ability, as God's people, TO RISE.
And I believe in 2021- He wants us to get up!
How can we get up though after we've been so knocked down? Maybe you even still feel like you're being squashed under a shoe and rocks are rolling your way and there's no escape. Maybe you're still locked down. Your business and school is still closed... Your bank account is still empty... Your way is still blocked...
Yet, God has been saying to me.. and maybe He's saying the same for you... its time to GET UP!!
You have the ability to RISE! It's is in your DNA as a member of God's family. You can make it!!
But how again if you're still feeling squashed?
I believe to be able to get up ... you have to do two things: Remember and Repent...THEN Rise.
REMEMBER!
I think for us to get up from 2020.. we first to remember the power of our God- who He is, what He's done for us- and who we can be in Him!
We need to remember Jesus, the risen King we just celebrated, is IN us and WITH us. We can rise because He did! Heaven's champion, God's Son, Jesus conquered! Because He lives, so can we!
Satan wants us to think... our sin is too big; our past too dark; the economy too bleak; corona too contagious; depression too suffocating; loneliness too extreme; that our sorrow is too heavy; the diagnosis is too bad; our faith is too weak and our energy too low.
But God's Word says the complete opposite.
We can do all things through Christ who gives us strength! (Philippians 4:13)
Nothing is impossible for God! (Matthew 19:26)
No weapon formed against us shall prosper! (Isaiah 54:17)
He will finish what He started in us! (Philippians 1:6)
We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us! (Romans 8:37)
He wants us to remember HIM and not forget Him and to keep our eyes on Him!
We also need to...
REPENT!
God wants us to learn in the storms and in the valleys. So easily we lose our way and we build our lives on things that don't matter.
Where has your life gotten off track? How is your faith in God now? Your trust?
Who or what are you living for? Is God at your center?
Repent! Ask God to wash you , renew you, transform you, ground you, center you, build your life on Him and for Him... He promises to restore you ... and refresh you!
When we humbly come to Him with every struggle and fear and pain we have... He can carry it all and can heal it all!
then..
RISE!
Get up! It's time. You might not have the vaccine in your arm, but you do have Jesus in your heart. You may have a mask on... but you can live and love and shine His light and share His truth! Rise up!
Your story is NOT DONE! God has new chapters to write with your life and mine!
May we allow God to breathe His life and His hope, joy, peace, truth and strength into us in the new year!
May this year 2021, be EPIC, for God's glory, not our own! May we represent a people who are not crushed but a people who rise and become better by the struggles we pass through! If you see the Bible... this is already our story!
We are pressed, but not crushed..., struck down, but not destroyed... (2 Corinthians 4:8)
We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but those who believe and are saved! (Hebrews 10:39)
Praying this for us all!
PRAISES / PRAYER REQUESTS
Hope University College started and is now finishing the school year with its 2000 plus students. The class of 2020 finished and graduated on Dec 19th. I'm so very thankful and so proud of these 350 graduates who persevered. I will never forget them! Please pray for these students as they now seek work. Also for all students as we finish and transition into a new school year this week!
I'm back to work after quarantining and another negative Covid test result. Please pray that I can help the school finish this "crash program" and wrap it up, then start a new school year in January.
Big prayer is needed for my work permit and new residence visa (this week) as I change from being under ETC to Hope University as their Student Dean.
I was so happy to see one of my best former students, Dagi, get married last week. It's amazing to me that God gives us global family and I'm so thankful God allows us to go through the good and bad of it all together. Congrats and best wishes to Dagi and Samri!
Please let me know how I can pray for you in the new year!
Let's RISE up and be all God wants us to be! It's time!!!
Blessings to Each of You in 2021!
