I want to tell you a story about how a single word can change the trajectory of your life. 

2019 was the year of Hurricane Dorrian and Notre Dame burning.  For me, it was a year of change. 

My oldest son had moved out and my youngest son had one foot out the door. Those two amazing humans have been my purpose since I became a mama in 1998.  

For the first time in my life I had a career not just a job.  I went from working a job in the school system on my boys schedule to government contract work. Life was shifting, but it was good.  Still something just felt off and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

During my drive to work I had started listening to a podcast called, Big Life Daily Devotional and this peppy speaker seemed to be fueled by Jesus and caffeine.  

She had me taking notes and reaching for my Bible. That’s when I began to realize it was God that was missing from my life.  Being that we were between churches my Bible had gotten put down and that led to spending less and less time with God.

Pamela Crim, the Big Life Podcast Host, had begun talking about a mentoring program she offered. I laughed and said, “I don’t need a mentor,” but that voice in my head started giving me a nudge. Maybe I did. 

In February 2020 I joined Big Life Mentoring. One of the things we are encouraged to do is pick a word for the year. Pamela actually does a workshop to help us come up with our word. The first thing we do is pray! Next we ask ourselves a few questions.  One of them being what do you want for the year ahead.  From that you begin to look for words that stick out and so on.  

I went through the steps of finding my word. Through prayer and answering those questions it was clear to me that I needed to return to God.  My relationship with Him needed to be repaired.  In order to fully live the life He has for me I needed to bring him back to the forefront and keep him there.  Which is why I chose RESTORE!

1 Peter 5:10 says “In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation”

I wasn’t going to church like I should have. I wasn’t spending time in the word or in prayer. I was not my happy go lucky self and I couldn’t figure out why. I was lost and searching in 2019.

Through finding Big Life Daily Devotional, God was already restoring me, but it wasn’t until I dove into mentoring that I realized what was missing was my relationship with Him.

Throughout 2020 when the world was falling apart, I got my spark back.  I found a church online that I loved.  I was reading my Bible and spending time in prayer with Him. I was truly happy and living my best life.

I signed up for my first marathon and stuck to my training program.  Running became another way for me to spend time with God.  I would go to the greenway at the nature preserve, put in my Christian music and just go.  I loved being out in nature, soaking up the sun (or the rain) and just spending time with him. I was actually running faster than I ever had.

My husband and I found we enjoyed being empty nesters. We totally took advantage at working from home together and creating fun ways to date while the world was shutdown.

I joined an accountability group through Big Life.  These girls became my prayer partners, my workout sisters and cheer squad. 

I even got brave enough to go on a Big Life Retreat with 41 strangers.  One of the best decisions of my life.  I ended up going on a 2nd retreat a few months later. It took me to beautiful Northern California. My first time visiting the state. I absolutely loved the ocean, the giant trees and vineyards. Exploring Glass Beach was one of the coolest experiences. I have now been on 11 retreats and am signed up to do two more!  

God restored me in spite of all that was going wrong!  He helped me see my purpose.  He showed me that when I put Him first, life is just better, even in the hard.  

As 2020 was coming to end God was continuing His work in mine and my husband, Kevin’s life. Little did we know He was restoring us in preparation for something big!