Its just a year...

Lately, God has been impressing on my heart to make it through a year... I know some people view life as making it through a day or month at a time and that is VERY true...but I am talking about give it a year to see change in your life. If today is a bad day, I can survive today..but I likely won't see change tomorrow.... BUT if today is bad because you hate your job, you want to lose weight, your marriage is struggling, you have not met the right man, you are waiting to get pregnant, etc., etc., then you likely won't wake up and see change - atleast major change tomorrow (unless you wake up pregnant, but even then you likely won't know for a few weeks!) This kind of change usually involves time and waiting.

However, the long act of waiting indefinately can seem overwhelming. So, I have started taking life one year at a time. If something is awful today, a year from now, with work and prayer, I bet I see some change!

As a single woman with many single friends, I most often hear friends say this with regards to dating. "A year ago I was dating the wrong man." "A year ago, I wasn't dating anyone and now I've met the man I will marry." or my favorite, most recently, on Cinco de Mayo, my friend MK and I were laughing about how I left a party at her future husband's house to come to a party and meet up with her. and a year later, we were all celebrating the holiday together - because they had met, dated, gotten engaged and were a couple months from marriage! God certainly does work in a year. Also, I was recently encouraged by this article about a woman who gave up on dating and a year later was engaged...the concept of provision in year in dating or any other circumstance is very encouraging!

Like my stories of others "one year" experiances, I have also seen this concept play out in my life.... I felt completely alone my last year of law school, but a year later I was in Jackson making amazing friends. I wasn't completely at home here yet, but I could see God working. A couple years ago, I wanted to date more and meet the right man. That didn't happen, but a year later I was dating more - a lot more. It has been my experiance that a year rarely ends up in an 180 degree turn (although it certainly can!) but I usually can look back and say this is how God worked last year. A month is often too short for me (in my sinful narrowmindedness) to see God's changes in me, others and my circumstances... BUT, in a year, his faithfulness is always noticible, even to us narrowminded sinners!

Who knows where my life will be a year from now? I would love to find a job closer to home (I have a really long commute). I would love to have met the man I will marry. I would love to be a little more certain about what I want to do with my life and career. I would love to not be struggling with the same sins Will I have found all these things? Maybe, maybe not...I don't know the Lord's timing nor do I know whats best for me. But, I do think I look back and see huge changes in these areas... a year will clearly give me the ability to see how God has slowly changed and improved me and my circumstances... and who knows? Maybe a year from now, my prayers in certain areas will be answered.

After all, even in the Bible, we have measurements of time...this is partly for practical reasons (measuring time to keep track of when things happened), but I think its also to "measure" the Lords faithfulness - each morning (His mercies are new every morning!), each month, each year, each generation.

So what are you struggling with today? Marital problems? infertility? sin? no spouse? lonely and need friends? looking for a new job? need to lose weight? Maybe make a promise to yourself and God to pray faithfully this year and look back and see how he has provided and carried you the past year.