7/8/2020 Today is our 14th Wedding Anniversary! Matt picked three flowers from the yard for me and declared, “Flower arranging is hard!” What he may lack as a floral design technician, he makes up for with sweet, sweet, words:
Front of card: Shall we stick by each other as long as we live? -Walt Whitman
Back in early January as I prepared the new calendar for the 2020 year, I hesitated a moment before I wrote in our anniversary, wondering whether we would be celebrating it together or not. I chose the prophetic act of writing it in and last night in my prayers thanked God for so many years already and many more to come!
So 2020 has been the Year of Years for, I think, ALL of us! Matt’s cancer diagnosis, our church dissolving in late February, COVID-19, racial injustice exposed and who’s to say what is still to come…
Yes, lots of awful heart-and-gut-wrenching things. Yet, we have seen time and time again how God has taken what was meant for evil and turned it into good (see the story of Joseph in Genesis and his conclusion in chapter 50, verse 20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today”). “See A Victory” by Elevation Worship plays through my mind.
In Matt’s card he mentioned questioning the PowerSheets “best year ever” cards displayed in our home…
One of the ways God has flipped the script on all the bad is that we’ve been confronted with all kinds of issues both as individuals and as partners and have had the time and space to actually address them and work on healing them and growing in new ways of being and doing. Had there not been so many road blocks slowing us down this year, it’s hard to say if there would have been as much good growth in us.
Every time we come face to face with our flaws (ignorance, wrong beliefs, unhealthy patterns…), we have the choice to address them or ignore them. No longer surprising, God provides the resources we need for and in the season we need them. For me, one of the resources has been PowerSheets. This tool uses the language of cultivation to help its users reimagine goal setting processes (think tilling, weeding, fertilizing, pruning and slowed-down sustainable growth) and reminds me of John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.“ Also, the whole chapter is amazing, and Matt got to teach on it a couple of weeks ago!
Here are some other timely resources for us this season:
The Marriage Journal https://theroloffs.com/products/themarriagejournal
PowerSheets Intentional Goal Planner https://cultivatewhatmatters.com/
Waiting on God and Diving Healing, both by Andrew Murray
You’ve Already Got It (So Quit Trying to Get It) by Andrew Womack
Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
Passion Planner https://passionplanner.com/
Switch https://theswitch.app/ (https://drleaf.com/)
There have also been numerous individual podcasts that have hit the mark of what was needed for the moment!
Although we don’t know what the rest of the year will look like, we’ve experienced a LOT of GOOD and are thankful for, even, 2020! You can see what else we’ve been up to on our Instagrams @annaliesebeghtel @mdbeghtel
One more funny…Matt walked up to me this morning and said, “I have some bad news…I think I’m going to get into CrossFit”, so yeah, we’re doing good 😂
ADDENDUM: OUR TEAM HAS WON THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE, 2020 is LFC’s ❤️🏆
Matt & Annie - Journey 