“Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.” – Psalms 126:5 NLT
As I reflect, so many tears have come out of my eyes this year. I cried a lot this year. I cried that I made it another year which is always a blessing. I cried when I left a job that I grew to love my coworkers and students. I cried moving to a new city. I cried of the unknown of my current job and new coworkers and new students. I cried that almost 800 people read my blogs this year. I cried losing love ones. I cried leaving a church. I cried even through heartbreak multiple times. I am currently crying writing this at 2:35 in the morning.
With the tears that have come out of my eyes this year, each tear represents a lesson. That is what this journey of life is about right? In Ecclesiastes 3, Solomon did tell us for everything there is a season (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Every season there will be highs. Every season there will be lows. Every season there will be blessings. Every season there will be lessons. In every season there’s one guarantee. That is a choice. We choose the route we want to go.
I will be honest. The choices I have made this year have not always been good. Some choices came from selfishness. Some choices came from immaturity. Some choices came from desperation. Some choices came from confusion. When I made those choices, tears of pain came out of me. Also this year, I made some mature choices. Wise choices. Patient choices. Discern choices. Choices that were prayed in before doing it. When I made these choices, I see the blessings and rewards that came away. And again, tears of grace fell down my face.
All the tears. All the choices. All the highs. All the lows. All the emotions. All the feelings. They all change, but there’s one thing that remained the same this year. Jesus Christ. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is with us always (Matthew 28:20). With these two verses, my tears run down again, but with joy and love. This year has been unique for us all. Whatever happened this year for you, I pray that all of us keep seeking Him first for He will provide and He will bless us (Matthew 6:33).
“Trae, you are so blessed. Look what God did for you this year. Look at the blessings. Yes, even those failures were blessings. Look at the growth, the journey, He has put you on. Yes, you going to continue to go through trials, but are you going to grow through trials? Your mom and I are very proud of you and the man God is creating you to become. We love you very much.”- Rozay aka Dad
The Journey 