As we wrapped up 2020, we shared with you 3 Life Questions to reflect on the past year and the next one. LA, Jazmyn, Kathy and Mia answer the question: what gave you joy this past year?

from L.A.

By God’s grace, our family experienced joy in unexpected ways this year — even for reasons that may have stolen our joy otherwise.

We found joy in God’s comfort as my grandfather passed away and could not be with the rest of the family physically due to travel restrictions. We found joy in God’s peace and healing as we experienced a miscarriage. We found joy in God’s grace and mercy as we stayed home as a family and walked by faith one day at a time. God taught us a lot in 2020 and we are so thankful for that.

from Jazmyn

Little joys came in treasured moments.

Having some time with my son was truly a blessing as he was gearing into his toddler year. When I came back from my eighteen month parental leave, I really missed him A LOT and the lockdown gave me the opportunity to test new learning styles and find new adventures together as a family. Though it was tough at first to work from home, my husband and I were able to find our groove on how to navigate having the same working space with two different working styles. However, it gave us an opportunity to get to know each other differently and that helped us understand each other a little better. Also, finding out that we were going to welcome another little human added more joy to our family! What an exciting new experience it has been so far.

from Kathy

One thing that gave me joy this year was experiencing God’s faithfulness through all the struggles and pain of 2020 and really learning to trust in Him.

He gave my family peace and comfort during the time my parents had COVID-19. They had returned from a vacation in March right at the start of the first lockdown and were the very first people that I personally knew who got the virus. My parents were in isolation by themselves and suffering from on and off fevers, shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, loss of taste and smell, but they weren’t afraid. They prayed and trusted in God and His plan for them, whatever it may be. And He healed them.

He sustained both Derrick (my husband) and myself as essential workers. As a frontline worker at 2 different hospitals, I struggled with the stress and anxiety of dealing with an unknown sickness, being short staffed and working long hours for months. Derrick also dealt with similar issues of working more days and longer hours with more and more demands due to short staffing. We were burnt out, but we were also blessed. Neither of us got sick despite going out everyday. Neither of us lost our jobs in a time when many people did. He provided for us and we were even able to buy a bigger house, which was definitely a surprise as it was something that neither of us planned or expected would happen this year.

He enabled Life Church to launch in a time of pandemic. It was so encouraging to be able to get together and worship with His people after months of social distancing, online services, Zoom meetings.

And lastly, the answered prayer of getting pregnant! It’s something we were praying about for some time, and I had a really hard time trying to let go. It was a real source of sadness and disability for me and I was trying to keep control of the situation. When I finally stopped and let God take control, it happened in His perfect time.

It was a challenging year but through it all God has been faithful and I’m thankful for all that He’s done.

from Mia

Maybe I can change this question to who gives me joy. Because God gives me joy through following Him and through so many people.

I do have to say that I really felt for the first time in awhile the cost of following Jesus, of being outside of my comfort zone. I became more aware of how my husband and I were under the fire from the world, our own flesh and the enemy. And I struggled to choose joy, especially when we found out that our baby could have had Trisomy 18 (1 in 160). How fitting that the study I just started doing at that time was the book of Philippians. Suffering and joy go together in a believer’s life.

My husband and I—mostly me—cried so many tears throughout the highs and lows of the past year. But we were at peace with whatever the Lord has for us. We have hope and true joy in what we already have—the Gospel.

God gave us joy in 2020 through bringing life. He has blessed us and has given life to our youngest son, Judah. And then 6 weeks later, He gave us joy through the launch of His church.

We encourage you to share some of your answers with us in the comments below, e-mail us or post on your social media story/feed. We can’t wait to hear how God has led you in 2020 and where He’s calling you next.

1. How did you grow emotionally and spiritually this year?

2. What gave you joy this past year?

3. What spiritual discipline will you work on in 2021?