Welcoming 2021 and Pregnant!

What a year huh!

I mean 2020! Tell me about it!

But you know what I say, if you are alive and reading this, thank God! You have made it! Take that to mean that you have not accomplished all that you should have by now so you have an extension! It’s like actually having a warranty. You are past your use-by date but you still have some life left in you! So what are you going to do?

I don’t know about you but for me, for 2021 I feel pregnant with the excitement of all the possibilities and my potential, and I truly believe that if I allow God to guide my life then my plans will go well according to His will. Let’s just leave that there!

Pregnant?

No, I am not pregnant! I am a grown (or overgrown) woman, so pregnancy in the literal sense of the word is no longer a possibility for me. I don’t think that is in God’s will for me either.

But I just feel like I have a life so why not look forward with renewed hope and try to make the best of the coming year. When so many were not able to see 2020 to an end, I have the privilege. I am an optimist, and I just feel pregnant with hope.

I feel this way because, despite all the challenges that came in 2020, I was successful and to say it was a bad year, would not be a true reflection of the entire year. Yes, there were some difficulties. I am not denying that, but we were blessed beyond our wildest dreams in many ways.

Blessings of 2020

As we embrace whatever is to proceed from 2021, it is with grateful hearts that we look back at how 2020 unfolded. We had spent Christmas 2019 away on holiday in Morocco and it was really splendid.

It was lovely to escape to somewhere warm. Anyway, on our return, we got back to our usual routines of everyday family life. We also did something we had decided that we needed to do at the start of every year, and that was to set plans in place for the coming year.

And so we did. At the same time, we started to hear about a mystery virus in Wuhan, China. Our view was that it would spread because people travel from region to region and country to country. However, not in our wildest imaginings could we dream up how this thing would unfold. The devastation! The chaos! The lives lost! Just thinking about it now is making my heart bleed.

However, there is reason to hope, and reasons to count our blessings.

• None of us in our family (to the best of our knowledge) developed the disease – blessing
• We were able to have paid work that was sustainable for the year and allowed us to pay our bills – a blessing
• We collaborated with a number of brands for our mutual benefit – a blessing
• Our YouTube channel was revamped – a blessing
• We were able to rejoice with the fact that the career path we chose to follow after we gave up teaching, could be done from home, so lockdown did not have a negative effect – a blessing
• We learned so many new skills from the comfort of our sofas which we might not have had the time nor impetus to learn before lockdown – blessing
• We used these same new skills to make a vast improvement to various parts of our home and grew together as a family as a result of the closeness and banter we experienced whilst working on them – a blessing
• After some months of waiting, we were able to order groceries online from 2 supermarkets which meant that we did not have to have much exposure to others outside of the home – a blessing
• We continued to enjoy fellowship with our fellow faith members by attending church online via Zoom – blessing
• Our blog, joleisa.com continue to grow – a blessing
• We have started to ‘pay it forward’ by blessing others and we hope to continue with this. Now, this might not seem like it is a blessing to us but it so is! The first day when I did it I was elated and it was very gratifying so I see paying it forward too as a blessing.

We hope that you too will have renewed vigour as 2021 unfolds and that you will also be pregnant with possibilities to make this year, the best in every possible way.

Again, we wish you a very happy New Year. Join us in welcoming 2021