Dear Family & Friends,
December 2024
When I sit to think back over this past year, the word that
comes to mind for our family is growth. With two teenagers in the house,
our life is a constant rollercoaster in all the good and hard ways. I’ve
learned to rely on Christ as my seatbelt and to take the days moment by moment.
It is a good, hard season, priceless and pressing, proving my Jesus faithful
and true, over and over again and again.
Weston turned 15 in August, adding another driver-to-be to our household. I’ve watched him navigate soccer, friendships, and relationships this last year where he has been learning invaluable lessons. He has grown in his ability to communicate with coaches, teachers, friends, and even his parents. He has weathered disappointment and success with a steadiness found only in scripture. As a freshman, he continues to excel in his high-level courses, motivated by his career aspirations. I’ve watched him purposefully seek to hear from the Lord and respond in obedience. The Lord is his anchor and firm foundation, and I am so proud of him.
Joey is my rock star. He rides this rollercoaster of teenage
parenting right beside me, and we scream and raise our hands and grip tight
through the turns together, holding onto to one another with the Jesus seatbelt
holding us both securely in place. He has grown in his ability to communicate
and lead our family toward Jesus. His voice in our kids’ lives during this
season is invaluable, and he accepts and steps up to the challenges. There’s
really no one better at having hard conversations. I depend on his authority
and wisdom and trust in his leadership. At work, new challenges have presented
themselves, yet he endeavors to always grow and learn from them. He
doesn’t give up or lose heart but looks to the Lord to lead his conversations
and objectives, loving, leading, and serving those around him as best he can.
We have both grown together in our marriage this past year, engaging in some
intensive and difficult counseling, learning how to change and meet each other
where we are after twenty-three years of marriage. I wouldn’t want to ride this
rollercoaster with anyone else.
Me? Well, in 2023 the Lord told me to “cast a wide net”
where my interests were concerned, and this landed me volunteer opportunities
at the Georgia Aquarium on top of continuing in leadership with Bible Study
Fellowship (BSF). But the biggest fish caught in that net was my part-time job
with Amber Grace Community. Five years of praying for “what’s next”, of praying
for a job I can do on my own schedule still allowing me to be present when my
kids get home from school, of praying that job could pay me what I’m worth, and
the Lord answered in only the way He could by providing abundantly above and
beyond all I could ask or imagine. I just had to wait on Him, His timing, and
His provision.
Amber Grace is a non-profit organization currently building
a residential community for individuals with intellectual and developmental
disabilities on Berry College campus in Rome, GA, and I get the honor and
privilege of being their administrative assistant. Working for my aunt and
uncle building a community for my cousin is the cherry on top😊I
am humbled by the opportunity, in awe of God’s perfect timing and provision,
and excited about what the future holds for this organization. Onward and
upward, as we like to say.
Looking back, I can see how the Lord has grown me in my
ability to be still, to seek space where I meet Him, abiding and relying on Him
for my daily strength. He has grown me in my relationship with my children and
my husband, but mostly with Him. Opening my home to lead Bible study over the
summer once again, I experienced the firsthand presence of the Holy Spirit and
how He moves to speak and teach and reveal truth in the gentlest, most
affirming, convicting ways. He is not a God waiting to slam the judge’s gavel
or poke around in my life like an inspector looking for areas of improvement.
His Spirit is Life and Breath and Light. The more moments of my day I’ve taken
over this past year to engage with Him in personal conversation, contemplation,
and just enjoyment of His presence, the more peace, clarity, direction, and
fulfillment I have experienced.
Friends, have you made space in your life for Jesus yet this
season? This year? Do you have fifteen minutes at the beginning of your day
where you can sacrifice some sleep to meet Him for tea or coffee? When your
emotions swell and threaten to overwhelm, do you recognize them as phone calls
from Jesus? He wants to talk to you right then and right there about whatever
you’re feeling. Can you say no to scrolling, so you can say yes to staring out
a window and listening for and inviting Him to speak to you? Could you take a
walk together instead of watching a show? My favorite is to turn the radio off
in my car, envision Jesus is along for the ride (because He is), and just talk
to Him, out loud like I would a friend. Where can you make space for what, I
promise, is THE most important relationship in your life?
He stands at the door and knocks like a gentleman. He combs
the hillside looking for the one lost lamb. He sets a table for us in the
presence of our enemies. We hear Him in the still, small voice spaces of life
not the fire and wind chaos. He calls to us in our wildernesses and meets us in
the fiery furnaces. He shows up in the quiet of Christmas night born as a baby
in a manger. He pursues us, longs for us, comes TO us because He loves us. For
no other reason than a love we cannot fathom but long to experience.
New Year is a time to look forward in anticipation with new
hope, new goals, new resolve. As I continue to study Revelation in BSF, I am
reminded to look forward to Christ’s return as well—with new hope, new goals,
and new resolve. The Lamb born in the manger will return as the King of Kings
with a fanfare and entrance this world has never known nor can imagine. Find
Him in the quiet, friends, because the next time we see Him, you will want to
be considered one of His own.
“Glory to God in
the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” Luke 2:14
Grateful we are children of the Most High. Praying God’s
peace over you and yours this Christmas season. Praying you find ways to make
space, to make room in the inn of your heart and life for the Soon and Coming
King.
Blessings from our family to yours,
Joey, Jennifer, Savannah, & Weston Durham
No comments:
Post a Comment