Just wanted to share some end of the year reflections on Career Central – The Podcast.
The biggest reflection point for me was knowing the Lord is good and strong always. I kind of always known that but it was particularly evident for me this year. I definitely strengthen my relationship with Him.
So how was my relationship strengthened with God? Well 2020 started with a colon cancer diagnosis and me going through chemotherapy. And of course, I was not a happy about doing chemo as I seen other people go through it. And I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of chemicals going into my body. But I did a 24 hour fast with prayer with my husband and came to the conclusion that I need to go through it. Lord answered my prayer at 3am and that’s when I knew I had to go through with chemo. There were many times when I started treatment that I was ready to throw in the towel, but the Spirit came to me and said I needed to continue with it. And so I did.
So one of my plans as I dealt with the effects of chemo was to have my then 4-year daughter to stay with neighbors and have playdates with friends. Well then COVID-19 happened and that put an end to having my daughter to go my neighbors’ homes. So now I had to figure out how to entertain my daughter when I am nauseous and extremely tired and can barely hold my head up. But we just did the best that we could do.
Now looking back I realize everything I went through brought me closed to the Lord. As I needed something beyond what I could do for myself or what my husband could do for me for that matter. I allowed myself to reach out to my community of friends and neighbors for help. I also turned to the Lord more. The other remarkable thing I realized as I reflect is that cancer gave the opportunity to be more focus and essential in how I spend my time in both my personal and business life. I started cutting out the fluff in my life and zeroed in on what I wanted to focus my time on. This allowed me to reduce stress and become more engaging in with my clients.
Now looking back on my word for 2020 which was “receive” – I truly received so much love from so many people. Right before I started treatment, I met a woman who had gone through chemo herself and she told me to get ready for radical love. I was like radical love? She said yes radical love, as a lot of people will be of service to me. I’m going to strengthen my relationship with God. And I will see how loved I am through all of this. And guess what I experienced radical love. People showed up when I needed them the most. And I was so amazed and grateful for that. In turn all those who were prompted to helped so how God was using them to help me and that strengthen their own relationship with Him.
So because I’m feeling strong and healthy, my word for 2021 is “exaltation”. Exaltation means feeling triumphant, a feeling of elation or jubilation. Although 2020 was a hard year, I am grateful for the lesson and many ways I was able to grow and learn especially during the pandemic. I do feel we are better now in many ways having gone through 2020.
So remember this no matter what’s going on, whatever crazy, anything that’s happening, our help is coming from the Lord. And He made all of this. He made the whole universe. He’s the one who made what we’re going through and did all of this so that you might be able to come closer to Him and to be able to return to live with our Father in heaven. And that is remarkable.
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Below is the transcript for this podcast episode:
[00:00:00] Hey, Hey ladies. So on today’s episode of career central, I want to share with you some end of year reflections that I have. It’s always kind of nice when it gets to the end of the year, just to stop and pause and look back on some of the major things that have happened. And so, um, That’s what I want to do with this episode of the podcast today, starting off in scripture, I want to turn to Neyha Hume chapter one, verse seven may, whom is one of those smaller books, right in the old Testament that we’d like, we don’t get into a whole bunch, but it’s just lots of really lovely little nuggets in there.
[00:00:35] But in AUM one seven, it says the Lord is good. A stronghold in the day of trouble. And he know with them that trust in him. I think as I look over the last year, one of my biggest reflection points and the main thing that I’ve come to know is that the Lord is good and strong. Always. And it’s kind of funny for me to say that [00:01:00] because I suppose I’ve always known that he is good and strong, but after this year, I really really know how good and how strong he is for me.
[00:01:12] And, and how in turn, that’s strengthened my relationship with him as well. So why do I really know that the Lord is strong and good? Well it’s because my 2020 started off with the colon cancer diagnosis and chemo, and September 9th, 2019 is when I was diagnosed with colon cancer. I had surgery to have nine inches of my colon removed, um, in November of 2019.
[00:01:44] And then as the doctors evaluated and looked at the tumor and what was going on in my body, they recommended that I do chemo. I was not happy. One bit about needing to do chemo. In fact, it was really, really pretty mad and [00:02:00] upset about it. Um, because chemo sucks and I’ve seen other people go through it.
[00:02:04] And I know it’s horrible. And the whole thought of pouring a bunch of chemicals and my body was just like, no, this isn’t anywhere close to a good idea. So, and made it a matter of fasting and prayer. And, um, really, really, um, sought the Lord’s answer as to whether or not I needed to do, um, chemo or not. I figure he gave me this body, you know, this earthly tabernacle, if you will, my body that I have for my spirit to experience this earthly Sojourn.
[00:02:37] And I thought, well, if he gave him this body and he’s. Brought me to cancer. What does he want me to do with it? And I had undoubtedly a very strong answer as did my husband. He also joined me in a 24 hour fast with prayer, um, that he also got the answer that, yes, I need it. It’s to do chemo and again, not stoked about it.
[00:02:59] Not [00:03:00] stoked at all. So, um, and one thing that was really lovely about it is the answer came at three o’clock in the morning. And, uh, and I thought that that was really poignant that the Lord for sure answered my prayer at that time, because he knows how sensitive I am to the whole 3:00 AM thing as evidenced with the journal that he had me create about 3:00 AM with God.
[00:03:25] So I knew my answer. I knew I needed to do it, and I will tell you what it was a darn good thing that I had that specific direction from him because when chemo started, which was on January 3rd, By the middle of February. So like six weeks later out of a six month chemo regiment, six weeks into it, I was pretty much ready to throw the towel in and just tap it out.
[00:03:53] It was. Horrible. The amount of side effects and everything was just ridiculous. [00:04:00] And I’m a pretty strong person physically before all this happened. Um, but it just, it was horrible, horrible, horrible. But then the spirit whispered and reminded me that I had fasted and prayed and I got my answer that yes, I needed to do a chemo.
[00:04:14] So I thought, well, okay, the Lord knows what’s going on and he’s going to bring me through it. And the more, um, Uh, I continued to do 12 rounds of chemo and, um, and it got better from the standpoint of, I knew more of what to do and how to handle it. It was still horrible, though. It was still, it was just ridiculously bad.
[00:04:35] My heart goes out to anybody. Whomever I talk to has to go through chemo, regardless of what kind of cancer they have. It’s just a, it’s a nasty, nasty thing. Hopefully one day we won’t have to do it, but for now it’s a thing that we need to do. So one of my coping plans for chemo, um, was to have my then four year old, be able to go over and, and have play dates with neighbor, [00:05:00] friends, and other little girls in the neighborhood.
[00:05:01] And lots of their moms were totally willing to have my little daughter over. And, um, and they enjoyed those play dates. And my, my daughter’s a good kid. And so they, they don’t mind having her come over or anything like that. So, Uh, enter COVID to the story in March. And so that was a lovely little twist of events because then I did not have the luxury of being able to send my toddler over to people’s homes.
[00:05:29] And that what was hard about that was that when I was going through chemo and then after go through three days of having an infusion, um, I would then deal with multiple days of nausea and extreme exhaustion and just. Just horrible amounts of side effects, um, that I was like, Ooh, great. Now, what am I going to do with this four year old?
[00:05:53] How am I going to keep her entertained while I can barely pick my head up off of the pillow or barely do anything [00:06:00] other than sit on the chair and watch TV. And I mean, freeholds can only handle so much TV before. It’s just not a good idea. So we just did the best that we could do. And, um, And around that time, my husband actually was working from home because of the, the physical distancing requirements that came in with COVID.
[00:06:20] So he was home helping out a little bit, but not a lot. My husband’s a nurse. And so he was doing a lot of tele-health phone call type stuff with patients. So it’s not like he could be entertaining a four year old for very long, but we just, we made it work. But as we think about reflecting back on that time, because now here it is.
[00:06:40] December. And I’m looking back on this stuff that happened nine months ago. Um, how much it brought me closer to the Lord because I needed something beyond what I can do for myself or beyond what my husband could do for me. And it was beyond what I
would normally do, [00:07:00] which is to reach out to my community of friends and neighbors to say, Hey, I need some help here and I couldn’t do it.
[00:07:07] And so. There was a whole new, well of pretty remarkable stuff that set or brewing inside of me, of turning to the Lord more. And that made an enormous difference. Um, The other, the other thing that was a remarkable reflection for myself, as I, as I look back is how cancer brought the opportunity for me to be more focused and essential for how I want to spend my time in all areas of my life.
[00:07:35] So not just in my personal life, but also in my business and whatnot. And I really started to get essential and focused on what fluffed did I want to cut out of my life and out of my business and whatnot. And that was an amazing gift. One thing I like to say about cancer is that cancer is the gift that keeps on giving and it still keeps on giving to this day.
[00:07:58] And so cutting out the fluff was really [00:08:00] awesome in many ways, because it helped me to zero in. Um, what I wanted to focus my time on how I wanted to make a specific difference to people. And that was really, really beneficial in so many ways, because it helped me to reduce my stress. It helped me to see how I was, um, really engaging with my customers and making a difference for them.
[00:08:20] And I didn’t have a whole lot of customers while I was going through chemo. I just, I just did not have the strength to handle it at very, very small. A handful of customers, most of whom were actually friends of mine who had asked me to help them out with some stuff, but they also knew I wasn’t going to be, um, available all the time, because when you’re going through chemo, you just have out several days at a time where you just, you can’t even really talk to anybody, let alone have a very strategic business minded focused conversation.
[00:08:47] So anyhow, it worked out, we made it work and it’s. And it’s worked out really lovely in the end, but, um, but anyhow, cutting out that fluff was huge, made a big deal for big, big difference for me. And another thing [00:09:00] as I reflect back on is the word of the year. Now I’ve been doing word of the year for a long time.
[00:09:05] Um, going, going back several years of 2011. And as I reflect on what my word was for 2020, um, which was the word receive, um, I received so much love from so many different people. And I remember it was about a week before chemo started. So this was back in December of 2019. I was with a group of people and this gal who had just met that day, um, she found out that I was going through, going to be starting chemo the next week.
[00:09:39] And, um, she herself had gone through chemo and radiation. For breast cancer, about eight years prior to that. And she said one thing that she realized, um, through her chemo and, and all the treatment stuff that happens with cancer during that time, she experienced what she calls radical love. And so she looked at me in the eyes, you know, like those kind of [00:10:00] moments when people look in the eye and it’s like, you know, that light burrowing into your brain, into your heart.
[00:10:06] And she said, get ready for radical love. And I just stopped. And I looked at her and I, and I said, radical love. And she said, Oh yeah, girl, she’s like, buckle your seatbelt. Just get ready for it. And she said to me, you know, you’re gonna have a lot of people who are going to be of service to you. You’re gonna strengthen your relationship with God.
[00:10:30] You’re like just so many things that are going to help yourself to see how loved you are through all of this. And then I thought, okay, okay. I love that. Thank you. I will pay attention. So kind of had to kick it around in the, in the back of my mind and I thought, Oh, okay, well I’ll just pay attention to that.
[00:10:49] And then. Over the time of being through, going through chemo and then just daily drips of these experiences in my life of so much [00:11:00] love from so many different people who followed through on things because they felt prompted to do it. And then whatever it was that they felt prompted to do always showed up right when I needed it the most.
[00:11:11] And so how would they have known right days before I was going to be about ready to have an emotional breakdown, right. So. Some amazing things like that. And, um, and it has undoubtedly been a year of receiving radical love, so many different ways. Uh, just so, so, so grateful for so many people who took action on those things they felt prompted to do.
[00:11:33] And then that helped them to come to know God even more too, because then they could see how as they followed through on. Being of service to me or, or sending me a text or dropping a note in the mail or bringing buy a treat or whatever it was, as they felt prompted to do those things. And then they saw how I was receiving it, then it helped them to realize, wow.
[00:11:54] Yeah, God’s really using me. And that helps strengthen their relationship with God in turn, too. So it was really good. The [00:12:00] ripple effect of all of this was, was remarkable. It was absolutely right. Remarkable. And so now here I am at the end of the year, and I’m thinking about. What my word is going to be for next year.
[00:12:13] And I’ve been thinking about things like celebration. Like I’m just so grateful to be healthy and strong again. And while I don’t have a clean bill of health yet I still have this feeling of I’m strong and I feel clearheaded again. Cause by the way, chemo brain is legit anyhow, but I feel strong. I feel healthy and I feel like there’s things I can go do.
[00:12:35] And it’s awesome. And I’m grateful for that. And so. I wanted to have something about like celebration or joy or enjoyment, um, you know, something, not necessarily like a word like party, but just like that feeling of just so much elation and happiness. And, um, I was listening. I was at church a few weeks ago and we were [00:13:00] seeing, Oh, come all ye faithful and.
[00:13:05] The word excellent. Stood out to me. And when I look at the, um, the lyrics for Oak com, Oh, you faithful? Uh, yeah, I just, I look at this and says, Oh, sing choirs of angels. Seeing an exhortation. Oh, come Oh, come coming to Bethlehem. Oh, come and behold him born the King of angels.
[00:13:35] And I thought, you know what? Yes, I am faithful and I am coming to Christ
[00:13:46] and the rest of the song says, Oh, come let us adore him. Oh, come let us adore him. Oh, come let us adore him. Christ the Lord. And. There’s so much in this song [00:14:00] about adoring Christ and about being faithful to him. And I’d like to think that on the day that Christ was born, maybe I was there. Part of that choir of angels singing an X alteration was so much joy and jubilation in my heart for the fact that he’s come.
[00:14:26] And he’s going to do what it needed to do to help, to redeem us. And I feel redeemed in so many ways. So, so, so, so, so grateful. Gosh, uh, deep, deep Wells of gratitude in my life, undoubtedly, and I actually looked up what exfiltration meant, cause I’m like, okay, I know that that’s like, Something about joy, but expectation.
[00:14:55] Um, the full definition means a feeling of triumphant [00:15:00] elation or jubilation, rejoicing,
[00:15:06] a feeling of triumphant. Elation or jubilation cause triumphant. Right? You just think of like, like we have, we have six seated. We are here. We have arrived. We are successful. We are champions and let us be champions in Christ. Right. Let us enjoy him and embrace him. And, and would that not bring elation? Oh, my goodness.
[00:15:31] Yeah. I mean, it’s beyond that. Right. And I just love that triumphant, elation or jubilation. And so what a, what a remarkable thing. So for me, that’s where I’m at. And so instead of having the word laughter or celebration or joy or whatever, my word for 2021 is X saltation. And it’s wonderful. And they, you know, when you look up words, it shows like that word in a sentence, and this was the sentence that [00:16:00] they had with it.
[00:16:00] It said she laughs and XL station. And I just chuckled when I saw that, because that’s me, I am laughing and XL station. I am laughing with that feeling of triumphant, elation, or jubilation about. My relationship with the Lord and how he has used something pretty scary, like cancer, you know, it’s like the C word and people hear it and they freak out.
[00:16:26] Right. And, um, I had faith that I would be okay. And then I knew that it would be hard, but then I would be okay. And I am okay. I’m better than okay. I feel exultant. I feel. Elation, I feel jubilation. And so here I am celebrating every day and focusing on what’s good. Yes. I still have moments where I’m going to lose it and just freak out on stuff.
[00:16:55] But overall, I, I am looking forward to having a year [00:17:00] focused on the word of exhortation and I am so grateful as I look back on 2020. Beyond grateful for the lessons that I had. And so grateful for the many ways that I was able to grow and learn and to see my community of closest friends and family members grow and learn as well through all of the trials, with the pandemic and whatever, and then how so many of them as they stop.
[00:17:26] And they think about what’s happened to them in their lives that they actually. Yeah, they’re, they’re sad for some things about the pandemic, but for the most part, they’re feeling pretty good about where they’re at as an individual and pretty darn good about where they’re at as a family. And I think that is remarkable and I think that is win.
[00:17:45] And I think that that is something that we can have triumphant elation about. Is that okay? Or better in so many ways now, as, as we’re in this wave of what’s going on with COVID. So it’s pretty beautiful. And [00:18:00] so in the end, I’m grateful for 2020, and very grateful for a new year to come. And, um, I think, I think there’s much more to come for me to have that feeling of expectation.
[00:18:15] And I hope that you have some joy in your life as well. Um, you know, as I wrap up this episode today, I always love to share some kind of quote or something out of the 3:00 AM with God journal. And today I feel like I want to share a scripture from it, even though I started off with the scripture at the beginning of the show, I love the scripture, which is from Psalm.
[00:18:34] Excuse me, one 21, one. Which is my help come from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. And that is true for all of us. Right? So no matter what’s going on, whatever crazy, anything that’s happening, our help is coming from the Lord. And he made all of this. He made the whole universe think about that. Like he made all of it.
[00:19:00] [00:19:00] He’s the one who made what we’re going through and did all of this so that you might be able to come closer into him and to be able to return to live with our father in heaven. And that is remarkable. And so when we know that, I think it kind of takes the edge off a little bit and, and it helps us to get away from the, Oh, why poor me.
[00:19:20] This is horrible, this, that, and whatever, right. It’s like, no, it’s, it’s pretty cool. That’s, there’s actually some pretty remarkable things that the Lord lets us go through and through it, he’s helping us, which is why I love that scripture again from Psalm one 21, one, which says my help come from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
[00:19:41] So it’s pretty, pretty amazing. And you have that in your life too. It’s not just for me, right? It’s for all of us that. As long as we turn to the Lord, he’s going to be there. Who’s going to help us. And he can help us through our little things in our big things. Cause he’s done it all. And he’s been there right?
[00:19:57] The alpha and Omega. It’s pretty awesome. [00:20:00] Well mamas, thank you for joining me on career central, the podcast. I’ve really enjoyed sharing career development insights with you. And now it’s been nice to end the year with some of these end of year reflections. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode as always for more resources to help you with your career development.
[00:20:19] Come on over to career coach jen.com. Thank you so much mamas to your successful and inspire career next year.