Elizabeth Estrada looks at the devotional word she chose for 2020, and how it was significant in unexpected ways.
What a year it has been for everyone due to the virus and all the challenges it brought to many, including myself. While every year brings its challenges, they become even more complicated when dealing with a world crisis.
My word of the year was STAND, and at the beginning of the year I thought that it meant that I needed to get out of Jesus’s way so that He could transform me in the way I needed. As the year continued, I discovered, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that it was much more than that, especially the way the year unfolded.
My son struggles with severe anxiety and depression. He began the year going to day treatment and ended the year in day treatment. There were so many times that I thought I couldn’t deal with it anymore because I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t have the strength, but God in His mercy was there to carry me and give me the grace to do what was needed.
I couldn’t roll up in a ball in the corner, like I wanted to very often. Instead, I had to stand strong so that I could be that person my son could lean on for support. The image that came to me recently was that of Mother Mary. Even as her Son carried His cross through His Passion, she stood. She never fell or fainted.
At the foot of the cross, she was there, standing strong for Him. Never was it about her feelings or pain; her eyes were on her Son.
At the beginning of 2020, I never would have imagined that God knew that I was going to have to stand strong for my son, just as His Mother did throughout His life. I needed to trust and stand firm in my faith.
As 2020 ends, I will carry this word with me and look forward to the word of 2021, praying that God will stand close to me so I can lean on Him.
Copyright 2020 Elizabeth Estrada
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