Goodbye '21, Hello '22!

I am ready to be done with 2021! This year flew by but at the same time, there are things that happened just this year that seem like it should have been at least one year ago, if not more. I'm coming to realize just how funny a thing time is. This is my personal recap of the year that was 2021. Want to see my recap for the business? Just click here!

This year was harder for me than 2020. There was some really heavy stuff that happened to me or to people close to me and that, unfortunately, is what stands out from this year. I know a lot of great stuff happened - no more lockdowns, a trip to the sand dunes, and my new niece are just a few highlights - but it gets kind of overshadowed at times. 2021 had a lot of the fallout of 2020 coming to light and there were a lot of endings, many of them quite abrupt. It was just a rough year and not at all what I was hoping for, as I've been looking forward to this year (and this birthday) for a while and it did not cooperate :)

How did my word for the year impact my year? My word was "PROVISION" and it had two meanings for me. One was simply to see how God provides what I need and I certainly saw that. It has had the desired effect of me not stressing as much about what I'll do next year. I can't say I never worry about things I need, but I saw God work in some very unexpected ways this year. What I didn't do so well on was the "seeing" part that I wanted to develop. I want to have eyes to see the provision in places I might otherwise miss. I did not focus on that as much as I wanted to.

Not only did I see God's provision for me directly but also for other people in my life. I'm sure I missed ways He provided but here is what I observed from the end of last year until now.

• Babysitting for the Edens
  
• Surprise money from PayPal
  
• Selling prints and Christmas cards
  
• An Amazon gift card from my Bright Lights group
  
• Snow on Christmas (just what I needed in 2020)
  
• Multiple job opportunities (none that worked out but still)
  
• All my prayers being answered about my wisdom teeth plus more I didn't think to ask about
  
• Getting a brand new iPhone for less than $100 and no tax
  
• Helping our friends get a vehicle when theirs' was in the shop
  
• Someone paying for part or possibly all of our friends' vehicle repair
  
• Not letting me start an editing job before I got a new computer that could actually run Lightroom
  
• My brother not making it into baseball
  
• Selling my old iPhone for more than I could have thought right when I needed a little extra money
  
• My brother paying me for helping with his table job
  
• My friend being able to visit her mom in the hospital multiple times (they were granted special permission)
  
• Stimulus money (as much as I hate it, it was a blessing)
  
• Having three childcare jobs this year
  

Obviously I haven't gone into detail and some of these might not seem like provision to you, but that is kind of the point. Sometimes what we see as a disappointment or a bad thing is actually God's blessing and provision. Not always, but sometimes. I have seen multiple times now that something I was upset about not happening (or happening) has turned out to be for my or someone else's good and so I am trying to see provision in the bad as well as the good.

I'd love to hear how your year went! What was good? Did you have a word of the year and if so, how did it impact your year? Happy New Year, everyone!



Bottom photo by Isabela Kronemberger on Unsplash