Straight from a Perspective-seeking Heart
By Lisa Elliott

I was feeling the effects of 2024. It had been quite a year; full of transition, tears, and trauma. Or, at least that's the way I was looking at it. Typically known for being a cup-half-full kind of girl, suddenly all I seemed to be able to see was my cup-half-empty.

Somewhere along the way, I had lost my hope. Or perhaps, I had simply misplaced it. Rather than focusing on the God of hope, I was putting my hope in circumstances and people. My thinking was skewed and my perspective warped.

The Apostle Paul says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds," (James 1:2). Nonetheless, as I considered all we'd been through, it was hard to be very joyful about the year coming to a close. Much less, be very hopeful about the year ahead. I identified with what the Israelites must have felt when they were encamped between the Egyptian army in hot pursuit behind them and the daunting Red Sea ahead of them.

My husband and I had a good discussion about it all one day as we approached the New Year. We went for a long winter's walk and I humbly disclosed my self-doubts in lieu of the past, as well as my fears, anxieties, and uncertainties of the future that lay ominously ahead.

When he asked me what word I would use to describe 2024, I used the word "trauma." He understood. Thankfully, he knew me too well to leave me in my "woe is me" downward spiral state. We decided to warm up with a hot drink at a favourite coffee shop in town. Then, together we talked through the entire year. Month by month we listed the events that took place to give context to my negative and emotional response to each one.

Our year began with a retirement announcement which, if I'm honest, created some sadness and disappointment in our ministry realm. In February we welcomed our newest grandson into the family. However, all did not go quite as planned when our daughter-in-law ended up in the ICU for a couple of weeks, calling upon me to offer care, which I gladly gave. March had us responding to an S.O.S. call from our youngest daughter at the scene of an accident she'd been involved in. Someone coming towards her, from the other direction on the highway, had fallen asleep at the wheel and came close to hitting her head-on. April presented us with the slew of emotions that came with the culmination of forty-one years in pastoral ministry. May, June, and July had us decluttering and sorting and packing and readying ourselves for a big move. After months of upheaval, in August we headed down the highway for our seven-hour trek. Halfway to our destination, our moving truck landed on a soft shoulder that gave way and the truck landed on its side in a ditch. (Read that story, here.)

It all seemed to go downhill from there. September to December presented all kinds of troubling ways to bury me beneath the weight of it all. Yes, there were "trials of many kinds." But the most troubling of them all was that I felt trapped by them.

As we talked, my husband patiently and graciously listened before correcting and redirecting my thinking to help me find a different perspective—a more positive one. He challenged me to turn my thinking from trauma to triumph. Rather than looking at the events, he guided me to look for God in each situation. As I reconsidered each traumatic event it became evident to me that "God [was] our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1). He showed up in profound ways to: protect, rescue, guide, provide, and remind us of His love, care, and personal attention to the details of our lives.

It occurred to me that without trials in our life, we can’t fully receive nor appreciate God's comfort, as Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 1:2-4. In verse 9 Paul goes on to give me the perspective I needed, "Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On Him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us."

And this is where my word for 2025 comes in. On Him I have set my HOPE.

Have you lost hope? Could you use a change of perspective? Let this, my prayer entering into 2025, be yours today, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).

* * *

Need a little extra encouragement? Discover more inspirational blogs by Lisa Elliott, Straight from the Heart.

About this Contributor:

Lisa Elliott is an inspirational speaker and award-winning author of The Ben Ripple, Dancing in the Rain, and A Ministry Survival Guide. She’s also a writer for Just Between Us Magazine, theStory, and Good Ground. She and her husband, David, have four children (three on earth, one in heaven) and serve the Lord together in Stratford, ON, Canada.