Reflections on Ice Skating and 2016

Our New Year's Eve family outing this year involved going ice skating. For the first hour, I put on ice skates and tried to keep up with my husband and the boys, who let's just say are much better at this activity than me. After awhile I decided to take off my ice skates and just sit and watch the three of them skate for another hour or so. As I watched, I couldn't help but do some reflecting on our year. It didn't take me long to begin to see some similarities between the past year and this ice skating experience. As most people who have ever put on a pair of ice skates know, ice skating is hard, sometimes scary, often discouraging, and can be straight up painful...and yet somehow, in the midst of all of that,  it can also be fun and wonderful.

Many who have walked through this last year with us know that there have been days that could be described using some of these same words as well. We have experienced some sadness, discouragement, unfulfilled longings, and some days have just been downright painful. 

As I watched the boys, who by the way this was their first time ice skating, they kept falling and getting wet, cold, and beat up from hitting the ice so many times. I kept thinking they should just give up and take their skates off. But they didn't. They kept getting up every time and trying again. They even kept telling me that they were having fun and showing it by the smiles I saw flash across their face every few minutes. It kinda surprised me how persistent and committed they were. There was something beautiful about it to me. That's when my mind began to make some connections between ice skating and our past year. One thing that quickly allowed me to make this connection was how I saw my husband continue to come along beside and encourage them. He would hold their hands and help them regain their balance. He helped them by picking them up off the ice over and over again. I think these things were helping them to keep going. More than once, I saw him give them a gentle whisper in their ear saying how proud he was of them for trying something new. I think this is what gave them strength to keep going and helped them to not give up. 
It was at this point, I remembered some scripture that we had read together as a family just a couple of days earlier. Romans 8: 15-17 says...
“So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering."
It was almost overwhelming as I felt this truth wash over me.  God was reminding me of something that was crucial for me to be reminded of at the close of this year. His promise in His Word here tells me that He doesn't want me to respond with fear when I encounter suffering. He doesn't want me to give up and quit, and stay in a place of discouragement when things in my life aren't going the way I hoped or planned. He wants me to come to Him, my father. He wants to whisper to me that He loves me and He is working in and through me for His Glory. He wants me to know that He is with me and helping me. He is the one who is giving me the strength I need to get through the hard places. He has a plan for me that although it has painful parts, it also has him as the author. He is ultimately sovereign and will make it all turn out for his good, which also means it will turn out for my good. 

Later on in that same chapter, Romans 8, verse 26, God tells us that " the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness." I have felt weak at points this past year. I have also experienced moments that I know it was God helping me in my weak moments, just like I saw my husband helping our boys when they were ice skating. 

Therefore, as I enter into 2017, I am going to try to live more into my heritage as the daughter of a King. I know that sharing in His glory has and will continue to involve sharing in His suffering. He longs to give me daily affirmation that He is with me in it all. I want to walk close enough to Him this year so that I can hear his voice whispering to me, telling me that I am His and He loves me and that His plans for me are still good, very good. Especially in the hard parts, I want to know and trust that it is his truths and strength that I need depend on each day.  I am beginning 2017 by choosing to trust that God is telling a beautiful story...a story that although it has some messy, sad and hard parts now, but in the end, it will all lead to one Glorious Story.
As I write this blog post, I can't help but think it is almost like our boys knew that the hurt and discomfort from ice skating paled in comparison to the joy the experience brought them. They kept their eyes on the joyous parts and chose to listen to my husband's voice of encouragement. My prayer is that I too will fix my eyes on my Father in heaven and listen to His voice and allow it to be louder than my fears. I want to focus on the beautiful parts of our story...our story that will be perfect in the end because it is His story.