Jubilee

It is the year of jubilee! What does that mean?

In Judaism it means: a year of emancipation and restoration, kept every fifty years. Or just a simpler

translation: a special anniversary of an event, especially one celebrating twenty-five or fifty years of a

reign or activity. Well I am not planning for some twenty five or fifty years to celebrate so that is why

I celebrate today, right now, this year.

Maybe you will read this even a year later after I have published this but still know that I still rejoice in what God has restored in 2022.

For some, you may think that God is a cliché or just a figure or even nonexistent. I thank you for still being willing to read my story or even willing to go on a journey with me. For me God is important and He is the center of my existence, so yes, I will be sharing my life with Christ.

You are welcome to stick around…

So how did I end up with this theme 'Jubilee'? In the past 3 years I have lost a lot and felt like I have been stripped down to nothing. Everything I had put my identity in, has been taken away. Friendship, health, housing, finances, death of my dear friends, even my work because of not being able to function at my work - all has been taken away.

I asked God to show me what my identity is, what does it mean to be a daughter of God, what does it all mean. I had been a Christian for so many years but felt like I never understood. I felt like it all has changed, like my belief system needed to be redirected and whatever I thought my walk with God should look like. I felt so clueless and restless, felt like it all had been taken away, stolen from me. I felt like my favorite meal (yes I love food, #caribbeangirl #lovelanguage) has been prepared and set in front of me but has been ripped away from under my nose. The table that has been set to enjoy with others I loved, one by one they all had left and there was no one else at the table. Everything that was good, seemed good or even is good had been taken away. In a way it felt so lonely but I knew I never was alone.

Looking up, God was there. He is always there. He still sat at that table waiting for me to look up and I was able to see Him. He awaits me.. to come and celebrate. Nothing has been taken away even though it feels like that. This is because I was dependent on my surroundings and not on Him. That is why it felt like all had been taken away. He was waiting on me… The more I felt I lost, the more He became real to me. God’s Word resonated with me.

I found my love language with Him when I understood Songs of Solomon, the book that I found most complicated and horrifying/terrifying to read as a single woman. Believe me, I felt so confused after I finished reading it. But I learned that this was God’s love language, that's He shows His love to me and that is what it means to be loved (a story behind this but will explain this another time).

Yes, in 2022 He restored all: not with one portion, not with a double portion but a triple portion

of all I had lost. I got healed from beginning stages of cancer, a chain that has been holding on to me for so long has been broken. I decided to stop working because I sensed that God has called me for something different. I have worked since I was 15 years old in the healthcare so I have deep roots in this area ( also another story of another day). God has set me free of suicidal thoughts I am restored of that which I had been struggling with for years. I am filled with joy a deep joy…

Isn’t He great!!!! For those who still think, "How can you ever believe in God after all this?", I know the doubt is still there and how could I really know and not just write something down. Believe me I have been like you, as skeptical as I could be and a non-believer, thinking that God was not real, how could He ever be real if He let me go through all of it. But He has made Himself known to me.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up there wounds. Psalm 147:3 NIV

To proclaim the acceptable year of year of the Lord. And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil

of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees

of righteousness, The planting of the Lord that He may be glorified. Isaiah 61:2-3

So I hope you kept up a bit with all of it. Yes I will keep on rejoicing with tears of gladness and full of

joy for what He has done. I will elaborate more next time about what He has done.

For now, let me round it up. Seems like I have a lot of explaining to do now but if I keep on typing you will be lost… Got to keep you on your toes..

Feel free to share what your jubilee year has looked like? If you are below the age of fifty you don’t have to wait till then. Let even this year, right now be your year of jubilee.. And for those who are above fifty please don’t wait till you are one hundred to celebrate your year of jubilee…

Be blessed and may God’s grace be upon you,

Nathania