A Bit Like A Dream

At times it all seems a bit of a dream.

How we moved to Athens in July 2020, lived there just under a year.

How we came back to N Ireland in June of this past year.

And how we are now planning to return to Athens this month to vacate our apartment, pack and sell things, and come back.

So as we start this New Year, it seems like a good idea to think through all that happened.

And to list all that we can be thankful for in 2021. 

In fact, it was not as hard as you might imagine. 

We were able, (in spite of the one BIG thing that happened that changed everything), to come up with 52 good things we were thankful for.

One per week, if you like.

Things for which we are really grateful. 

God has been so good.

A lot of those were people whom God brought into our lives in 2021.

Wonderful friends. Encouraging friends. Supportive friends.

There’s also simple memories, like celebrating New Year 2021 round an open fire with friends.

Or trudging through two feet of snow in the forest above our house in early Jan.

Or the white shadow of a Scops owl silently passing by on its nocturnal hunt in the early hours of a January morning as I sit on our balcony.

Or the familiar chatter of the Sicilian warblers who are nesting on the hillside across from our house.

So many magical memories.

It almost seems now a bit like a dream.

To have lived in Athens for less than a year, and seen and done all that.

God doing so much for us and in us and through us.

And, most importantly, to know that it didn’t end there when we left in June. 

That others are continuing. 

That God has been adding to the ECM team we were privileged to start.

That He is continuing to bless.

So, for 2022, we want to continue.

Surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses, as it were.

Running the race that is set before us.

Looking unto Jesus, the one who began it all, and who will bring it to completion.

Isaiah promises me this morning, that we will be …

     “..like a well watered garden

          …like a spring whose water never fails.”

                    MAY IT BE SO!

** Hebrews 12:1,2. Isaiah 58:11