The Greatness of His Goodness 2024

I’ve decided I want to make a record of what the Lord has done. Now if you know me, this girl has a thousand and one notes; so, there are traces of His work throughout the folds of my phone. But moving forward, I wanted one intentional list where I note the greatness of God’s goodness throughout the year. I’m confident this isn’t everything, but it’s a start to all Yahweh’s done for me in 2024.

§  The week I was supposed to take my son on his birthday ark adventure (yes, I convinced my 5-year-old that the Georgia Aquarium was Joshua’s Ark), my vehicle started having some struggles, and I needed to leave it for a little TLC. Not only did the Lord provide a means for me to take my son out of town to celebrate his birthday, but my CEO gifted me her car as my rental for the weekend so our plans wouldn’t be canceled. We had so much fun up and down those corridors, eating some good pasta, and enjoying games on our comfy hotel bed.

§  When I had concern over my vehicle – what was wrong, how to fix it, how to have the bandwidth to leave it to be fixed, I remember a prayer to God one morning for all my worry. As I finished praying and fixated my eyes on the vehicle in front of me, I saw that it was a mobile mechanic. Perhaps the answer to my prayer was right there! And it was. The mechanic was knowledgeable, knew more than many of these reputable repair shops, and would conveniently come to my home to get my vehicle operable again.

§  I’m pretty fearless when it comes to talking to and making acquaintances with random people. If I walk past someone and get a tug from the Lord to turn back around, I’m turning. And often I’m curious about people, have a heart for them, and want to see how my life can be a light and encouragement to theirs. In one such instance, the Lord pretty quickly gave me warning to steer clear of a particular individual. I couldn’t see any harm or danger in him, but I was grateful for the discernment the Lord had given me and how readily He enabled me to actually heed His warning this time.

§  My hopes had been dashed when I discovered I wasn’t going to be able to buy a home… again. But the Lord knew what He had planned for me. He gave me temporary shelter with a friend until the home He had picked for me was ready. At the time of me and my sister’s exit from the home we had shared for 2.5 years, it wasn’t prepared. But within just a month, it was. It’s funny that I had driven past it to pick up moving boxes, and I didn’t even know that until sometime after moving in. It has been the sweetest, most quaint, most perfect little home for me and my son. And this home has been a gift in more ways than one. I had prayed for a space where I could invite those who had poured into me and loved me over the years in and serve them. I wanted to live out in some measure what Rosaria Butterfield had written in The Gospel Comes with a House Key. It was so sweet to have my calendar filled with dinners and lunches and deserts with these people I so loved.

§  There was a season I had given away all of my stuff. I mean couches and beds and dressers and pots and pans and shower curtains and dining sets. All the things. It was the most beautiful surprise gifting story the Lord let me be a part of for two families. I kept thinking that when I moved that perhaps people would gift me with all the things I needed for my home as I had done. But it became apparent to me that the Lord was doing something different. I had been a faithful steward over the resources He’d given me and had savings that I had hoped to use for the purchase and setting up of a new home. Since that was no longer the case, I was given the opportunity to fill my home with new and rare treasures all to my taste and satisfaction. I was so grateful looking around at all that had been afforded to me. Once bare space now filled with good things again.

§  Somehow that short month of living with another sister and transitioning back to the bed I had slept on for 2.5 years had not gone well. I had started waking up in a lot of pain and would have aches throughout the day. I figured it could only be my mattress. It did not like the differences between the two and wasn’t going to be appeased until I fixed it. Not long after I started having this back pain a coworker messaged me and asked if I needed a queen bed; one of the couples who attended church with him was gifting one to make more space in their home. Now had he asked me about this bed a week prior I would have said no because I was just fine. But in just the time my back started hating my old mattress, one that would contour to my body well was made available. The lady delivered it. I even got some help from a new neighbor and brother I had just gotten connected to a few days prior (yes, I unashamedly asked him for help moving the old and new one). And it was sweet that I got to be a part of another gifting story. Originally offering little for my mattress set online, once I met this newly moved military family with a fresh baby and multiple kiddos who had been sleeping on the floor, it only felt right to gift them in the same way I had been – freely.

§  I was set on my son attending a certain school for his first year of big boy school, Kindergarten, and was surprised to discover that his brother had not be grafted in along with him. His dad was contemplating if they should attend the school his brother had the previous year so they wouldn’t be split up. I was certain I did not want my son at that school, but the one I had chosen for several reasons. I prayed and the Lord made a way for his brother to be accepted to my school of choice just before school started.

§  Separately, there were four women praying for godly sisters to do life with and the Lord brought us all together at just the opportune time. We started Presence + Prayer through walks and times of gathering, listening to the tunes of our hearts and bringing those concerns to the throne of our King. We had good snacks, shared laughter and tears. We have continued to be accountability partners, exhorters, and encouragers to one another in the faith. And they helped fulfill a prayer and longing for my home to be a house of communal prayer and worship unto the King. 

§  I had been missing being with horses. There wasn’t enough time or money to indulge in the beauty of these creatures as I had once had in a previous season. In a breath prayer I said to my Father, “Lord I know this isn’t a season where I have a lot of time, but I would like to be with horses again. That is a desire of my heart.” Exactly one month later on November 19, the Lord answered that prayer, and I got to be with horses.

§  I finally found the courage to ask the Lord for a long-awaited desire of my heart. The same day I prayed concerning this, was the same day the Lord reconnected me with this person. He had grown me in my walk not to assume that the connection was the answer, but that it was an opportunity to show me what His reply would be. Within just a couple months, the Lord did answer. Not giving me what I wanted but what was best. And the beauty of it all is that I had no wrestle and no sorrow. His kindness, gentleness, and miraculous power gave me freedom to release what I wanted to make space for what should be.

§  One of the things the Lord has done this year is grow me. I’ve been stretched to walk in love, humility, stewardship, sacrifice, and service. He has removed rocks from my heart and boulders from my eyes bringing reconciliation to several strained relationships. Through this He has fulfilled His call to make me fruitful. One such example is His tilling of me and my little sister who lived together in a messy garden for 2.5 years. Many days we thought it unbearable to go another. But how He sharpened and stripped us and reknit our hearts to have a tried and tested bond of sisterhood. He produced a bountiful harvest in our individual lives and with one another.

§  I’m not a big birthday celebrater. Give me my one person (when I had one) or a few friends and I’m okay. This year I decided that I wanted to be with this village the Lord had gifted me over the past years of my recovery journey. So, I had a drop-in at my home only requesting their presence and prayers. They surprised me not only with these but many tangible and beautiful gifts. I felt so tremendously loved and surrounded by family.

§  When I mention Sam, people are often confused until I tell them that’s my kid – my silver SUV I had purchased after a car fiasco that left me in tears in 2021. I had sold Cam Cam, my 2011 Camry, only to get a lemon of a ride in Louie, my short-lived black Nissan Rogue. I had been carless for almost a month in between Louie who had been unsafe to drive and finally feeling a sigh of relief when I got the okay to move forward in purchasing Sam. Sam was faithful to me, and I have loved this vehicle. Which is why when my dad suggested it may be time for me to get another one, my little heart was crushed. So many memories attached to Sam I didn’t want to let go of. When I finally opened myself to letting him go for a new vehicle, it was a momentary letdown when I realized I may not be able to get a new car after all. But the same day I found gratitude in keeping Sam and keeping him going, is the same day I was given the green light to buy Banner. Banner is a 2025 Toyota Rav4 and simply a beastly beauty. What was special about Banner is the lives and stories his gifting has touched. From one of my survivors praying that I would have provision for a new car with no sorrow, to my mom being willing to give her little so that I could get another vehicle and me purchasing Jehovah Jireh sweaters for us both trusting in how God would answer, to reconnecting with a former collegiate peer who reminded me that the ultimate thing that makes me blessed isn’t a new car, a material possession, a home, or a husband, but it would be me walking in the character of my God – he called it mercy. And then there was the naming of Banner which took longer than any other vehicle I had before. But I wanted his name to declare something about my God every time I spoke it; and it does: Yahweh’s banner over me is “I will provide for you.”

§  As I prepared to walk into 2025, one of the expectant joys I had was for a new mindset the Lord had been cultivating in me throughout the year. He had given me a push to overcome my laziness and fear of incompetency and show up as a better daughter, mom, co-laborer, and worker in His field. I’m going to keep going and growing.