Each year I create a photo book of memories. I don’t like the idea of leaving photos on a hard drive forgotten and potentially lost if it dies.
I take photos even in the little moments, not just the big events. A mini date day over coffee and a movie, a walk on a beach basking in the sun, birthdays, holidays, milestones, friends, family…. I record it all, much to the dismay sometimes of my friends and family lol.
But this year I have had to be intentional about taking photos and finding the good and enjoyable moments, it has been a tough year emotionally for me. It’s had highs, but felt like more lows. But I have still captured the good moments, even though they have felt further apart than usual.
Creating an album forces me to focus on the good moments of this year, not the hard times, the disappointment, the heart ache, the pain. I have to be intentional about what my heart is focusing on and remind myself of the fun and laughter. Finding the joy and causing that to be the stronger memory only helps heal the hurt as it becomes overshadowed by joy rather than pain. Now the pain is still there, it is still real, but I am not overwhelmed by it, I am not consumed.
So often we become drowned by our negative emotions, the weight of them pulling us deeper into ourselves. But the good is there, it’s like taking a big breath to help us rise to the surface again.
I want to encourage you, especially in this Christmas season where emotions are heightened, disappointment can be at the forefront of our minds, stop, take a breath and look around. Find the good, the joy, see the ones that are with you and that you love. Make a good memory for the year, it may not erase the pain and hurt, but allow it to soften it a little and treasure the good, remember that moment. Then create another.
The Bible reminds us how to do that;
“Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right-hand side of God’s throne. Think of what he went through; how he put up with so much hatred from sinners! So do not let yourselves become discouraged and give up.”
Hebrews 12:2-3 GNB
So don’t give up, there is joy waiting ahead of us. Look to Jesus, focus on Him, what we can learn from Him, how we can follow Him and become more like Him. In that we find the strength He gives us to keep going.
I am happy to see the end of 2018, it’s challenges, the pain it bought, but I can also look back and see the joy, the celebrations and the treasured moments and take those into my future. They help me keep looking for more of those moments as I enter 2019, to create more of those as I focus on Jesus and where He is leading me.
So take time to just sit with Jesus today, give Him the hurt of 2018 so you don’t carry it into your future, allow the heaviness you carry to lift and ask Him for peace to fill that space.
Have a wonderful Christmas and I’ll be back in the new year.
Ange xx
Angela's Blog 