How God Changed my Life in One Year

My life looked completely different one year ago.

I had just graduated college, and then BOOM - pandemic. Businesses shut down all across the globe, which made getting a job pretty much impossible. I was forced to move back in with my parents, which although it was very kind of them to let me back in, caused a lot of tension. I hadn’t lived at home in 4 years, and now all of a sudden I had a curfew? I’m 22, mom. You can’t ground me.

On top of that, I was lonely. I had tried out a few dating apps (ended up dating a gay guy for a couple months, but that’s a story for another time), but ultimately always ended up back in the same spot - disappointed and brokenhearted. I wanted to find someone to spend my life with so badly, but no one felt “right”.

So there I stood, single, bachelor’s in hand, completely unsure of what was coming next. I had nothing - it was just me and my Communication Studies degree. It felt like my world had stopped moving, and I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to get out of my childhood bedroom.

I know I’m not alone in this. The graduating class of 2020 all got to watch their names scroll by on a screen instead of walking across a stage. People who were just a few years shy of retirement got laid off. The pandemic didn’t care who we were or where we came from, we all got our stuff rocked.

The only thing that kept me sane during this time (and I do mean the only thing) was my incredibly active imagination. I’ve always been a daydreamer; creating what seem like too far-fetched scenarios in my brain space to help me deal with the mundane and often disappointing world around me. When I laid down at night, my mind would drift off to a place where everything was…well, normal. Nothing crazy or extravagant, just normal.

I pictured myself working in an office. I pictured myself coming home to a one bedroom apartment, perfectly decorated. I pictured myself in love, and in the arms of a handsome, tattooed man. I pictured myself doing receiving my first “big girl” pay check. I pictured the life that I wish I had been given after I graduated, and I did so until I fell asleep. Every. Single. Night.

Fast forward to today.

I went into my job at an adorable office as a full-time employee. When 5 o’clock rolled around, I came home to my immaculate one bedroom apartment, where I was able to cook whatever I desired for dinner from a fully-stocked refrigerator. I am now drinking a glass of wine, and am seated across from the love of my life while I type this (and before you ask - yes, he is handsome and tattooed).

And before any of you new-agers come out of the woodwork saying that “I manifested this” - not on my good Christian blog.

I can’t take credit for where I am today. I wish that I could say that I worked my butt off and pulled myself up out of the grave I was in and fought tooth and nail to get where I am today, but then I would be lying to you. I was far too busy throwing a pity party to claw my way out of anywhere. I voluntarily laid down in that grave, and, with dramatic flair, crossed my hands over my chest and sulked.

I got my job because someone my mom used to work with saw that I was “#opentowork” on LinkedIn. I can afford my perfectly decorated apartment because the job I have just so happens to be in leasing, and I get a discount. I met my boyfriend because, although we had known of each other for two years, he decided that night in September of 2020 was the right time to say hi to me at the bar. Looking back at all of the events that lead up to today, they could have only been orchestrated by God. They were too randomly perfect not to be.

Do you see what I mean? I didn’t do anything to earn this. I just prayed and trusted that God is faithful, and He loved me enough to put me in all the right places at all the right times.

And although some days are overwhelming and the stress of it all makes my eye twitch, at the end of the day I am reminded that the life that I am living now is the life that I dreamt about one year go. I am exactly where I had convinced myself I would never be.

That’s just how good God is. He’ll never leave you in the dirt. He will always pull you out, brush you off, and remind you that better things are coming -

“My child, don’t you see? All good things come from Me. I make you new each day, and my love for you never fades.”