2024: week 49.

monday, december 2.

Note to self, when I feel the most like giving up. It’s an indicator that you’re really close. Don’t give up now.

tuesday, december 3.

SJ came over and we coworked during the day. Then I had dinner with my roommates — our first dinner together since Sam moved in. Then I went to church.

wednesday, december 4.

Peonies! In December! I didn’t buy any, but it brought me so much joy to see them as I was out and about, running errands.

thursday, december 5.

The thing I love about this is the part where he (it’s King David, talking to Solomon) says, “my God.” He’s not just God, He’s mine. There’s a sense of belonging, intimacy, and experiential knowledge weaved in. He’s not just some God, or the God. He’s David’s God. He’s my God.

It makes me think about how we talk about God to other people. I think sometimes it can sound like we are talking about Someone we know at a distance. But I don’t just know this about Him and am telling you — I know Him.

(Is this making any sense?)

Anyway, I’m also noticing as I read through the whole Bible really fast (in 30 days) is that “be strong and courageous” shows up a lot more than I realized. Like it’s kind of everywhere.

friday, december 6.

We had a Whoville-themed Servant Leader Christmas party at church this year. It was so fun, and so well done (as always).

It was kind of wild to see how many servant leaders there are now, and how many of them are people I’ve never seen before (especially because we have Columbia and Franklin locations). Every time we all get together like that, I think it’s so neat to see how much we’ve grown from when there were so few of us that we could all sit down and have dinner together.

saturday, december 7.

SJ had her cowboy-themed Christmas party this night. Our friend Sarah came, which was such a lovely surprise. It was so fun!

sunday, december 8.

This day was full of rest, reading the Bible, listening to podcasts, and journaling.

I keep thinking about the cloud. The pillar of cloud that led the Israelites in Exodus. The cloud, the glorious presence of the Lord, that filled the temple and prevented the priests from doing their work in 2 Chronicles 5. The cloud the size of a man’s hand that the servant saw after six times of “I see nothing” in 1 Kings 18.

It feels like God has said to me, “Go and look.” And I keep coming back to Him saying, “I see nothing.” And I feel confused and discouraged and like I’m expecting something else from Him. But He keeps saying to me, “Go again.”

Again.
Again.
Again.
Again.

My word for the next year is “nevertheless.” And that is my response. I see nothing. But nevertheless, I will go look again. And again. And again.