As I (like many others here in South Carolina) welcome February with the flu, I have had lots of time to reflect on the beginning of 2018. January was a busy month. l experienced rest in the new perspective of unfamiliar places. I spent a lot of time on the roads between Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The new semester began with travel and snow days. If January is any indicator for 2018, I can’t imagine what this year’s journey is going to look like, but I can’t wait to find out.
In the midst of this beginning, though, I have felt subtly unsettled. Coming back to my South Carolina home stirred up feelings of uncertainty, inadequacy, and anxiety. My first three months of college required a deep faith to face the unknown. How do I now face this in-between of unknown and familiarity? Is the hope I have that I have found going to sustain me in this new year? Through these questions, I’ve realized that God alone calms my restless heart.
Unsettled is a beautiful place to be. This season of life is sure to be marked by change, travels, and moves, but God is sure to be constant. When the security of comfort disappears, it brings my true hope to light.
So maybe, like me, you’re feeling unsettled. Maybe you too are feeling the tension between the two or three places you call home. Maybe you too are wondering if you can find rest in a season that feels unfamiliar and unknown. Maybe you too are searching for the peace of our unchanging God because your future is unknown.
Today I invite you to look around at where you are right now, in this moment. Lean into the present with me. Embrace scattered memories. Then let’s look up. We can’t escape the clouds and blue sky hanging over our heads. Let us remember that just like the sky above, we can never escape God’s love. When we feel unsettled, God is constant and unchanging.
We can find this faithfulness in God’s Word. Whatever the day ahead may bring, we can open our Bibles and root ourselves in the unfailing promises of the Lord. The lies of the devil will tempt us, telling us that our hope is lost and that we will not find peace. But God reminds us that our delight is in Him alone, He is the one who will keep us planted in His steadfastness.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Psalms 1: 2-3
A few photos from January…
