(Image by Cassio Jardim)
Six Januaries ago…
(Image Source: @BishopJakes/Twitter)
I wrote a check for $20.16 ultimately to the order of T.D. Jakes Ministries. Jakes, who was guest-preaching at my (then) church’s annual New Year’s “revival” service, declared and decreed over the congregation that our offerings would seal his “prophetic” declaration that 2016 would be “our year!” (By this he meant we’d enjoy some long-desired earthly success, and my desired success was to grow my consulting business.) Within a month of this event, I would hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, become born again and embark on an unintentional journey of realizing my then Pastor as well as T.D. Jakes (and a slew of other men and women I once heeded), were false teachers. In the midst of this spiritual growth, however, my finances began to shrink. My consulting work became unstable, accounts receivables were slow to come, and my dwindling savings could no longer make up the shortfalls. Eventually things got so bad that by December of that year, I had the dreaded experience of missing my first mortgage payment.
(Image Source: BasicGov)
Four Januaries ago…
I lost my (then) home to foreclosure. Needless to say, it was a heartbreaking and humbling experience… except, by the grace of Christ, I still had joy! I was still reeling from the financial setback that began in 2016, but on the very day my former home was sold on the county’s courthouse steps, I was filming my testimony for a documentary called American Gospel: Christ Alone. The director /producer of the film got wind of an article I’d written warning others of T.D. Jakes and Joel Osteen’s ministries and invited me to the 2018 G3 Conference, where he’d be capturing a few interviews for the film. It would be my first time at G3 and the first time I would hear the term “reformed”.
Two Januaries ago…
(Image: Alexandre Chombon)
I received an email from my current Pastor informing me of a partner church’s short-term missions trip to East Asia. I’d previously expressed interest in international missions, so, as we prayerfully sought the Lord on the matter, we figured I should complete a few short-term missions trips before committing to anything full time. After a year of being depressed about my singleness and two years of processing the loss of everything in which I once placed my identity, I wanted to fully focus on the things of God. I figured missions would be the best route to achieve this end. I was even preparing to interview for a job in China, where I planned to teach English and use that as a means to evangelize the Gospel. Yet, COVID-19 turned China on its head, it canceled my trip to East Asia, and it shut down international travel for an entire year.
This January…
(Image: Tony Eight Media)
I am finalizing plans for my wedding and, before the month is over, Lord willing I will be married. As I prepare for this major life milestone that will instantly change my identity before the world, I can’t help but reflect on the past six years I’ve had in Christ, who instantly changed my identity the moment I believed and immediately began reworking in me everything I’d known of Him and myself. These past few years, I’ve known exponential joys even in the midst of trial. And while I thought I had my life all mapped out, I can see firsthand how “all things” are indeed added to us when we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. I am in awe with how much the Lord has changed my plans, my Beliefs and my heart for the better in what I just realized has been a relatively short time.
Six Januaries ago, I had no consistent desire to marry, I hardly trusted men, and I secretly thought even desiring marriage was a sign of weakness. I thought figures like T.D. Jakes were great teachers of the faith, and I would defend their ministries when given the opportunity. I thought owning my own home and having my own businesses equated to God’s favor and were true markers of success. I thought my life was all about building “my legacy” and that God was merely a means to that end.
By the grace of God, I am not who I was six Januaries ago. In Christ, I am sincerely a new creation. I am born again and thus reconciled to God and no longer condemned to suffer His wrath. He’s also been faithful to sanctify me that I am progressively formed into His image and not conformed to the world. He has taken me from a nominal Christian who liked to tell God my plans to a Believer who knows Christ is all I have, He holds all things together, and I only desire to do His will.
I also cackle at how He’s taken me from a woman who was once ambivalent about marriage (at best), staunchly “independent”, and one who, sadly, had a poor view of men, to a woman who not only grew to desire marriage but came to recognize the blessing, wisdom and protection in wives submitting to our own husbands. He also equipped me over these past six Januaries with the wisdom of His Word that I can not only discern unqualified men in the pulpit, but I also began to easily spot when potential suitors only had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof. (The Lord knows how my growth in this area has saved me much time, confusion and heartache!)
I Said All of This to Say…
(Image: Kiy Turk)
As I prepare this January to receive and celebrate my new earthly identity, I felt it most appropriate to testify of and celebrate the identity in Christ I’ve enjoyed through Januaries past. Through His word and His providential means, God has indeed changed me for the better, and in a really short span of time. Granted I’m not perfect, and my life is not trouble-free. But even through my mistakes and trials, the Lord has ushered me along, year after year, toward becoming a “new me”, not for the sake of “my legacy” but for His glory. God has indeed been good and faithful to me, so I look forward to future Januaries with eagerness, and I trust and have peace that all will be well with me.
I also look forward to seeing how the Lord will keep both my new husband and me through the Januaries to come. For each January He gives us in this temporal life, I pray we spend them all together, not only celebrating our wedding anniversary, but reflecting on how we’ve grown together in Him. I pray in the Januaries to come we only serve to encourage each other to grow closer to Christ, and that we would remain strong in Him in our trials and in our triumphs.
Indeed, this moment of reflection has been very good for my soul, as it has reminded me that all things really do work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). So, if this January proves to be trying for you, please don’t lose heart. Keep on living and walking by faith and not by sight (Romans 1:17; 2 Corinthians 5:7), cling to the Lord through His word no matter what you may be enduring (James 4:7), and seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). I assure you that when you look back across your Januaries (or whichever month you choose), you will come away seeing the God who never changes is indeed good, and how He was thus faithful to give you a new identity in His Son and change you for the better.
Happy New Year!
~ Veritéetfeu
