On weekdays during Advent we are posting the daily reflection from our Abundance Advent booklet here on our blog. You can download the booklet in its entirety here.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Psalm 23
This familiar passage has at times for me been a gasped, painful question to God: “Are you with me? Will you give me rest?” “I see and feel the darkness and evil; will you protect me?”
This year, it is a celebration; an exclamation of God’s goodness: “My cup overflows!”
While Wayne and I have had a really fun, adventurous, joyful year, these activities alone aren’t the goodness I have felt so abundantly. God’s blessings to me have challenged me at my core. This past year, I have seen and felt God using the people and circumstances in my life to rewire me, the teeniest bit. For the first time, I think, I’ve noticed that the people, places, and circumstances around me are being used by God to alter who I am fundamentally, for the better. My relationship with Wayne has taught me patience, kindness, peace, perseverance. Friends have taught me the power and beauty in transparency, sacrifice (both to give and receive), faith. Circumstances have taught me how little is within my control.
This complete rewiring of my system is so far from complete, it’s painful. And being aware of how utterly spiritually destitute I am makes it all the more painful to experience glimpses of glory. And yet those glimpses are all the more beautiful because of my fallen state. Through God’s abundance, my soul is reclaimed and being renewed, very slowly. And the abundance of peace that comes from trusting in God’s perfect redemptive work is at best, unbelievable.