Jubilee

Recently Billy mentioned something to me called the year of Jubilee. It sounded kind of cheesy to me, but then I started reading up on it. It ties into the history of Israel and the idea of taking a Sabbath, but on a much bigger scale where every 50th year, slaves were freed and debts were forgiven and God's mercy was particularly obvious. This year of jubilee falls on this year, 2015. I'm not big into history, or symbolism, but I loved the thought of "claiming" (while I'm also not big into that) this for my family.

When I say claim it, I'm not envisioning us having the credit card company free us of debt, or never having to struggle, or being free from working hard for provide for ourselves. I'm thinking more along the lines of choosing to see God's mercy in everything, even the trials. I'm wanting to choose to be positive, to think positively, to find reasons to be happy instead of focus on what's going wrong in our life. We've had a lot of hard work, hard times, bad attitudes, and exhausting over the last few years. It's not working for us. I'm not the type to be naively happy-go-lucky, but I do think there is something to deciding to be content and looking at the gifts you have in front of you.

I know that this year is going to be a lot of hard work for us. Me at home, raising and teaching these 4 hooligans, and Billy at work, doing his best to be successful for our family in a career that he's really fallen in love with. But as this year progresses, and the tired happens, I want to be reminded that God has forgiven my debts, provided for my needs, and given me rest if I'll just look up and out of myself and take it. I am still going to have to work hard, but I believe that God will bless these efforts and our desire to find rest and provision in Him.

I know that changing your outlook doesn't mean life is going to be easy, or everything will fall into place, or suddenly your kids will all be obedient, and your career will finally take off and paycheck-to-paycheck can finally be a thing of the past. Nope. But it does mean that you are ok. You know where your rest, your freedom, your jubilee comes from. It means you're choosing to see how God has covered you, soothed your soul, and set you free. You have a new chance at life.

Kind of like these butterflies we've been watching, I feel like God has been with me through so many stressful, growing situations in these last few years. It's hard to see what is on the other side of the refining and the uncertainty when you're the one in the cocoon in the dark feeling like you're being ripped apart. He sees, though. He sees the beauty that comes on the other side. And while I'm sure there are still struggles on the "other side" of the cocoon, I feel like we've been given a fresh start, and a place to rest these new wings for a bit.