GLORY

Acrylic on Canvas, 2019

My word for this year (2019) was ‘glory revealed’...a weighty promise. I carried this expectation in my heart through the year, filtering every experience through the lens that God was going to show me something amazing before year’s end.
As it happens, this year was ripe with both great and unexpected blessings, but more so it felt a year of waiting, wandering and frustration.
The obvious change was selling our house. Never saw that coming. And who would’ve thought shifting dwellings would feel soooo different? But as much as living in our new place feels like a dream, a dream I never would have believed for myself, I am realizing that it is still not the glory to be revealed. Glory—the weight of who God is—may be hinted at in the beauty of nature, the mercy of providence, or the mystery of mankind. These things appear to many to be the glory this life has to offer. But flowers fade, circumstances change, and people leave us or die. When these bright spots fade, we are faced with the reality that what often matters most to us are only shimmering reflections of something even brighter. This is good news.
Jesus did show me something great this year—Himself. In this, I was reminded of something I knew all along, something scary easy to forget, that HE IS the true glory. Once we see Him, everything becomes illuminated. We suddenly understand that if ALL we had was Him, we would have abundance and joy beyond what imagination could allow. And He doesn’t divert from being that regardless of what’s going on around us—good, bad, ugly. He is the light that never wanes, and the one to which everything else this life could possibly offer pales in comparison to. Every good and perfect gift comes down to us from the Father of Lights, but they point us to the epitome of brilliant glory that is the person of Jesus. He is the greatest gift and treasure.
I hope if you haven’t already, you will discover that to be true for yourself, and go into 2020 being the best year of your life.
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

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