Ashlie Miller

By Ashlie Miller

Convincing a child to wear a coat in the South is no easy task, especially on a cold but sunny day. Persuading a child to keep up with their coat while at school or co-op is nearly impossible! Hoodies and jackets fill the lost and found box or closet. Many organized mothers with foresight carefully label the inside of their child’s jacket. Those of us who collect hand-me-downs may have a label of a friend (or even a stranger) inside our jackets.

Joseph from the Old Testament in the Bible often could not keep up with his robes and garments. You may remember him as Joseph and the coat of many colors. His many brothers loathed that cloak and hated this favorite son of Jacob. When the opportunity arose, these brothers maliciously sold him into slavery to a caravan of merchants, tore his coat, dipped it in blood, and deceived their father about Joseph’s whereabouts.

Later, while serving in Potiphar’s household, the trusted and again favored servant, Joseph, is set up by the wife of the house, longing to have an affair with him. In the act of escaping her clutches, he leaves his garment in her hands – another opportunity for deception lying in the hands of Joseph’s enemy.

The first garment revealed Joseph’s identity as the favorite son. His later garment revealed his identity as a trusted servant. In both cases, the cloak was taken from him, yet his true identity and integrity remained intact.

Upon salvation, Christians “put on a new self” (Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10); we are transformed from the old to the new (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ clothes us in His righteousness, an identity we willingly embrace at salvation, even if we struggle later to think it is up to us to keep it on through our own merits. Isaiah 64:6-7 tells us that our best efforts towards righteousness (being made right with God) are like filthy rags. It reminds me of the times I let my children choose their clothing for an outing, and they come out with their stained play clothes, thinking they have made a lovely choice. It just will not do.

Thankfully, Isaiah 61:10 shows us the great love of our Messiah, clothing us in “garments of salvation…covered with the robe of righteousness.” Since perfect righteousness is the requirement for salvation (which we are inept at producing and maintaining), we hold fast to the promise of John 10:28-30 that Christ gives us eternal life. No one can pluck Christians out of God’s hand. Better than not losing your coat at school, we have a sealed identity wrapped in something no one can take. Though we may stumble and fall, our repentance reveals that His righteousness remains.

I am so grateful I do not have to keep up with my eternal “coat” myself. Christ has set His name on it and keeps up with it for me! His love is so great that I want to live purely for Him, not to stain my garment intentionally, but even when I fail, He keeps it spotless in His eyes.

Ashlie Miller sorts through coats for five children, sometimes finding jackets belonging to other children. Thankfully her husband, Chad, is type A and does a good job of hanging up his jackets.

By Ashlie Miller

By now, you may have learned that I am a bit of a dendrophile – just don’t ask me to name the particular trees I love. I admire their shape and structure, their rings that reveal years of stories, and how they transform with each season. In winter, I appreciate how deciduous trees, which once provided a curtain separating us from other scenes, lose their leaves in the fall, exposing a hidden world during the winter months.

As passengers in our mini-van, I love pointing out the scenes behind the woods to my family. Sometimes, it is a delightful treasure – the gated mansion off the main road, ginormous boulders in the woods, the lines of intentionally planted trees standing at attention. Other times, we pass by an area better off concealed from the public – an unkempt yard of junk or trash, a worn-down, neglected shack that was once a beloved home.

Spring and summer will conceal the hidden once again in a few months. However, the hidden will still be there – the good and beautiful as well as the bad and ugly. It reminds me of Jesus’ encounter with scribes and the religious leaders (the Pharisees) in Matthew 23. In verses 25-28, Jesus warns about how these leaders focused on outward displays of righteousness. Yet, their hearts held greed, self-indulgence, and essentially death and uncleanliness.

Earlier, in Matthew 5, as Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount, he warns about these same scribes and Pharisees. “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (verse 20). These religious leaders prided themselves in their outward appearance of righteousness but failed to fix their gaze on the One who alone could make them inwardly righteous.

As followers of Jesus, we are to move beyond a mere outward facade of goodness. Professing Christians can fail to fully realize true inward righteousness by prohibiting access to the Holy Spirit to transform them from the inside out. But truly righteous deeds on the outside must have the transforming power of the Holy Spirit on the inside first. Otherwise, these good deeds are acts to convince ourselves or others that we have earned our righteousness. That is tiring work because it comes from our efforts rather than a refreshing, supernaturally powered work.

In each of our seasons, someone passes by us. Unlike passing trees in summer versus winter, people can observe righteousness from the inside out during any season. Our love for God overflows into our love for others. In some seasons, we think we are good at concealing what is not so great on the inside through our efforts to convince others by our works, but there is One who always sees the state of our hearts (see 1 Samuel 16:7).

I pray we can be people with outward works that are an overflow of supernatural inward work. It begins with submission, which can be a restful posture.

Ashlie Miller is married to Chad, a pastor and church-planter of Mission Bible Church in Charlotte. You may contact her at mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com

By Ashlie Miller

Being a fan of anything is an intriguing thought – the idea that we have an innate desire to esteem or glorify someone or something – to put someone on a pedestal, if you will. Last week was a moment of obvious illustration – sports enthusiasts excited for the big game, music fans anticipating halftime, and celebrity worshipers waiting to catch a glimpse of him or her. We may not like to equate fanaticism as the same as worshiping something earthly, temporal, or worldly, yet worship it is. 

Elevating other earthlings as somehow untouchables worthy of so much awe inevitably leads to a letdown. There is no true reciprocity in this dynamic. Yet, we tend to be quite forgiving and understanding when the celebrity we follow makes horrible decisions or even, in some instances, moral failures. “They are just merely human, after all,” or “They are just like us!” we say to justify our continued obsessive followings. 

In the book of Job in the Bible, which I revisited last month, Job is called a “righteous man” at the beginning of the book. However, by the end, after trial upon trial and horrible counsel that lacked empathy from friends (and that is putting it nicely), Job is set straight by God for failing to understand God or demonstrating knowledge of His ways. It is a rebuke wrapped in love and followed by great blessing and restoration. Though Job was righteous, he was not perfect.

We often mistake the righteous for the perfect, don’t we? Many distance themselves from the thought of attending church or becoming a Christian because “there are too many hypocrites.” This may partly contribute to the fastest-growing religious group in our country – the Nones (non-religious). I wonder why we assume that Christians are perfect while on this earth. Christians come from the position of knowing they are not perfect and need a Savior, after all. 

As Christians, we often find it easier to remember to pray for those who are constantly struggling but neglect praying for those viewed as righteous. We can hold those in church leadership on pedestals, giving them esteem and glory, assuming they do not need our prayers and attentive listening and discernment. When they do offer advice that reveals their limits of understanding God and His ways, we find ourselves in shock and disbelief, ready to “throw out the baby with the bathwater.” But righteousness does not equal perfection. Listen to a wicked man long enough; you will eventually hear something true or good. Yet, a wise man would not go on listening to him. Listen to a good man long enough, and you will eventually hear something wrong. Should a wise man immediately discount everything the good man says or has said? Maybe the other question is, to whom am I giving my attention and affection? How am I praying for those I value as righteous and worth listening to?

Much of our attention today as both Christians and Nones seems to be focused on celebrity culture – jumping to defend or hate a particular celebrity. Either way, it is a lot of attention, affection, and worship. I think Christians’ time would be better spent praying for our ordinary, righteous leaders than fixating on this world’s celebrity-obsessed culture. One can help us grow in understanding and love, while the other is merely consumer-driven affection.

Ashlie Miller is a pastor’s wife to Chad. They parent their five children in Concord, NC. You may contact her at mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com.

By Ashlie Miller

If you are giving or receiving flowers this Valentine’s Day, roses are likely to be the star of the bouquet. Perhaps there are tulips, carnations, or even lilies. When did you give or receive your first rose? Was it a single rose or a bouquet? Was it well received?

I can remember the first dozen roses I received. It was intended for Valentine’s Day, though I received it a day later. It was not from a beau or someone I wanted to express interest in me. A boy at my church sent them to my school, a Christian school for elementary to high school grades. The florist delivered my flowers to the elementary wing of the school – to a little girl in kindergarten with the same name as me. I learned about it because her father called my house that evening asking if I knew someone with the sender’s name and if he would have sent me roses. In mortification, I wanted to slam the phone! Luckily, this timid high schooler dodged the bullet of blushing red upon receiving roses at my high school in front of my classmates. Still, I did not want to face this boy at church or even tell him thank you. I was not thankful. I was pretty rotten.

Maybe I would live through this embarrassment and one day forget it all. Fast forward two years later – my senior year. I finally have a boyfriend who shows up on Valentine’s at my school because their team was playing my school in basketball. Again, I receive roses, assuming they are from this first boyfriend. I’m wrong. It’s the same young man from my church (he is a young man at that point – 18 years old). I am not angry this time. I’m not as embarrassed. I even find it a bit comical, but I do not reveal the gift to my boyfriend.

You can probably guess what happens – a year later, I am dating the serial rose giver. I finally tell this fellow that roses are not even my favorite flower. Sunflowers are my botanical of choice. Poor but desperately in love, this young man orders sunflowers in February and has them delivered to me while he is living in another state. Bear in mind this was over 25 years ago. Flowers came from local florists – even sunflowers. You can imagine the cost of this delivery in the middle of winter! What a statement!

I am not saying that the sunflowers are what won me over and made me his wife, but it certainly didn’t hurt. He had found the gift that was precious to me – what uniquely made me smile. I didn’t ask for or expect it from him, but he found the way to my heart. He had taken the time to get to know me.

I want my worship and love for God to reflect that intimacy – spending time with Him regularly, delighting in getting to know Him better each passing day, and understanding my identity in Christ better. I desire my worship to be uniquely from me, not an attempt to replicate what everyone else around me is doing. 

In our intimate, regular fellowship with God, we discover He also knows what delights our hearts. Although there is common grace and gifts that are good for us all, what a loving, adoring Lord who seeks to display His presence in our lives with gifts customized precisely for us.

Ashlie Miller is married to her husband, who often brings her sunflowers and sometimes roses but always brings her delight in his gifts. He’s raising their sons and daughter to do much of the same. You may email Ashlie at mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com. 

By Ashlie Miller

“Does a Christian have to attend church to be a Christian?” My husband and I have been asked this question in our ministry roles. Last weekend, my husband shared another question he had heard: “Does a man have to go home at night to be married?”

The answer to both questions is no, but one cannot ignore the effects on relationships in either case. We could look at Hebrews 10:24- 25 in the Bible for instructions from the author – do not neglect meeting together as some people do. Yet, I would have you consider many other verses – 59 in fact (don’t worry, I am not listing them all here!) – that speak of the things we are to do to “one another.”

As Christians, we can love each other (Romans 13:8) as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18) and continue to love each other earnestly when wronged (1 Peter 4:8) and even to the point of forgiveness (Matthew 6:14-15).

Christians can comfort one another (2 Corinthians 13:11), show compassion (Ephesians 4:32), and bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).

When a fellow Christian is in need, a healthy church equips members to stir one another up (Hebrews 10:24) and edify or build up each other (Romans 14:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:11), especially as times grow harder. We have gifts from God given to us to benefit one another (1 Peter 4:10).

True, Biblical love also goes beyond merely tolerating one another but strives to outdo each other in showing honor (Romans 12:10), where serving another (Galatians 5:13) comes as we learn to submit to each other (Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 5:5) or prefer others over ourselves (Philippians 2:3).

In loving relationships, there will still be disagreements and times when we need to confront a wrong, but we can do so lovingly. It is possible to bear with one another’s faults (Colossians 3:12-14) and lovingly speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) as we admonish a friend (Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:16) to live in peace with each other (2 Corinthians 13:11).

As we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, move beyond our labels (in my case, being an introvert), and enter the church community, we welcome our brothers and sisters (Romans 15:7), display hospitality (1 Peter 4:9), greet one another warmly (1 Corinthians 16:20), and share fellowship (1 John 1:7) by speaking with psalms and singing hymns and other spiritual songs together (Ephesians 5:19). Does that sound like healthy, regular church attendance to you?

Reviewing a handful of the “one another” passages, I wonder how we are to do these commands (see 1 John 3:23) without regularly being in the physical presence and community of other people, especially Christian brothers and sisters. It provides a mutually beneficial relationship. Though we can attempt to live an isolated life of faith and maybe even hope, it will not be one filled with love if we have no one to share our “one another” actions.

Ashlie Miller is a pastor’s wife and stay-at-home mom to five children in Concord, NC. Contact her at mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com

By Ashlie Miller

The book of Job in the Bible is not usually the first book to consider reading when beginning a new year. However, for many Christians reading the Bible in chronological order, Job is often nestled as an interruption of sorts in the reading of Genesis. For those unfamiliar with him, Job’s life of integrity is put to the test by Satan as he plagues Job with numerous devastations (loss of properties, death of all his children, severe personal illness) – hardly the stuff for setting a positive tone on a new calendar. 

Often, we mistakenly think that “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” (it’s the lyrics of a hit song, after all). Maybe our responses to trials can bring that about, but it is not an iron-clad guarantee. So, then, why does a Sovereign God allow such suffering? Perhaps you’ve heard it posed this way: “Why do good people suffer?”

I cannot pretend to have all the answers to that profound question. However, I can share the stream of pondering I have had lately. Theologian John Calvin wrote, “Whatever be the kind of tribulation with which we are afflicted, we should always consider the end of it to be, that we may be trained to despise the present, and thereby stimulated to aspire to the future life.” We love the things of Earth so deeply, yet this world is broken and fallen and has been that way since shortly after its creation. Our Creator longs for us to know more than this world, to experience true communion with Him fulfilled in eternity. When we cling to the Earth too much – adoring and worshiping it with our time and resources – we look to it for fulfillment, which always leaves us wanting. Suffering reminds us Who alone satisfies, the One who deserves our adoration and worship. 

A friend reminded me recently of the song “God is Good” by Jonathan McReynolds:

“May your struggles keep you near the cross

And may your troubles show that you need God.”

“Near the cross” – a place of repentance, forgiveness, and comfort.

There is much to learn in suffering. Much we will never grasp on this side of eternity. We certainly do not want to make the sweeping (and wrong) accusations as Job’s friends did, assuming his trials were retribution for a sinful life. Sometimes, godly people suffer for God’s glory and man’s humility. 

Suffering can remind us that our temporary affection for Earth will never be fully satisfied and, therefore, should create a longing for something eternal and permanent. In proper humble response, suffering can develop humility and a reflection of our place in the grand scheme of things – humans in need.

Trials can produce good things in us – far too many to mention here. Remember that often, in addition to our personal growth, the hard times are a gift of grace – to bring us closer to the cross, closer to a Creator who is also a Savior. In God’s wisdom and love, He allows us to know Him as more than Creator (which is incredible) and experience Him personally as Redeemer, Restorer, Deliverer, and Comforter, to name just a few.

Ashlie Miller is a pastor’s wife and stay-at-home mom to five children in Concord, NC. Contact her at mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com 

By Ashlie Miller

January certainly can live up to its reputation as the longest month in North Carolina. Especially when it’s cold. Especially when it does not snow. Especially when even Florida gets snow. If you like snow, that is called disappointment.

Our family had a recent dose of disappointment. As part of our children’s gifts this year, we partly focused on experiences – an idea we revisit every few years. A couple of days after Christmas, we decided to take a day trip to Grove Park Inn in Asheville to see the entries for their annual Gingerbread Contest. However, we could not be admitted as visitors that day due to the high volume of guests. No problem, we had the whole day to be flexible! 

We went to the visitors’ center to form a backup plan (or two!). After looking through the pamphlets we collected, our new mission was to find one of the gingerbread houses rumored to be at another location in downtown Asheville. We saw local art and holiday decor but did not find the rumored house. The downtown area was too bustling for my family of mostly introverted personalities who do not usually care to window shop.

No worries, backup plan 2 – a retro arcade! We love a good retro arcade with pinball machines and games like Mom and Dad played as kids. Evidently, many other people liked that idea (and perhaps also chose that as a backup plan) because it was a 2-hour wait – and that was if we were lucky.

Well, our final plan was to start making our way back home by way of the quaint downtown of Black Mountain – much more our speed – and perhaps hit the retro arcade closer to home. But a quick look at the hours indicated we would not return in time to enjoy family hours there. 

It was a comedy of errors. It could have been a comedy of terrors, with children moaning, groaning, and foaming at the mouth in frustration. However, it turned out to be a time of laughter, fun, and contentment in little joys we found and would not have enjoyed otherwise. We made plans to have a redo closer to home at The Basement in Concord the following week to play pinball and retro games as a family on their value night. Things were looking up on the ride home – a glimmer of hope on the not-too-distant horizon. 

How did we arrive at that moment? A moment of contentment in the face of several letdowns? My family can be as cranky as the next, but this day hit us at the right time. Was it the journey we had been through last year? A year can hold so many disappointments. We had been through some things together. We had shared sorrows but also rejoiced together. It felt like a small victory to navigate a day with many dead ends and still be together, hopeful and happy because we had been through a year with many different stops and redirecting. Making it through long journeys helps us to see minor inconveniences differently. I am grateful. 

Here’s hoping you navigate your day with contentment through all its twists and turns. 

Ashlie Miller is still hoping for snow but, in the meantime, will make do with other cozy comforts for her family of 7.

By Ashlie Miller

Much like a Bob Ross painting, I delight in looking at the deciduous trees of NC winters. Although snow may not majestically blanket the landscape, the gift of our winters is that we can clearly see the beauty in the structure of our many trees. The observation is quite revealing.

In winter, we see a tree stripped away from its signs of growth, mainly its leaves and fruit. We may often mistakenly refer to it as a “dead tree.” However, life indeed is happening in the stillness and quiet of rest.

January and February can be difficult for many of us in the South. The excitement and joy of the holidays have passed, we face the reality of returning to schedule, and another vacation or extended holiday seems too far off in the distance to bring hope. Without the charm of a snow day, winter can seem dreary. But there is beauty in bareness, profoundness in simplicity. Seeing nature in its quiet, bare-bones form can be poetic and inspiring.

We can overlook people and even ourselves during the winter seasons of life. We can get stuck in the mundane monotony of our lives and assume nothing is happening in our routines. In a sure structure, God is working in the stillness and rest. How often have I mistaken the quiet, content, still life as one where nothing awe-inspiring or beautiful is occurring? But there are stories of victories, success, and – most importantly – God’s presence in a heart at rest. There is beauty in a solid structure that has been communing with the Creator and Savior over time. When we encounter someone who seems to be in a winter season, we can ask them to reflect on the victories in their lives to refresh them, which can also restore us in our winter seasons.

However, winter trees can also reveal structural problems. For instance, while looking up into our backyard trees, I spied a favorite tree with damage near the top. Though not a detached widowmaker branch, it is clear this tree needs further examination. We could choose to ignore it and let spring leaves on other branches attempt to cover up the problem, but eventually, the whole tree (not to mention the life that surrounds it) could suffer if the issue is serious.

Sometimes, winter seasons in our lives can also reveal an underlying issue. Stress over time takes a toll. Neglected things begin to suffer. There could be drastic results if we ignore these things and simply hope for the best in the next season. Are we busy fighting when we should be resting or waiting on the Lord (see Exodus 14:14 or Isaiah 40:31)? Are we afraid of the living Word of God that “discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart” from which “no creature is hidden from His sight” (see Hebrews 4:12-13) that can deal with the structural damages in our heart and character?

Our winters reveal what is supporting our life. If you find yourself in a winter season, assess your foundation and structure. Praise the Lord for good foundations that allow us to rest in our winters. Ask Him to reveal foundational issues that need His restoration.

Ashlie Miller is pastor’s wife to Chad and stay-at-home homeschooling mom to five children in Concord, NC.

By Ashlie Miller

“Mom, how long do you want to keep out Christmas decorations?” my son asked four days after Christmas. The standing rule at our house is to have things put away by Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day – not because we celebrate a full 12 days of Christmas after December 25 or the later holidays, but because that seems to be a good “this is too long” measurement for us. There is an itch to get the house reset.

January is when most of us crave a bit of order or reordering. It’s not quite a spring cleaning but more of reestablishing some things. Indeed, this post may be one of many this week talking about resolutions, goals, and words of the year – all great things to consider at this time. I wonder, though, about the “why” of it all. Why do we want order? Why in January? I know many moments of the year when I should just start all over. 

I think my answer came in my first Bible reading of the New Year. There are many reading plans that people follow, but I would venture to guess that most of them start with Genesis – appropriate since the word “Genesis” actually means “beginning.” As I read through the days of creation in chapter 1, I noticed that God separates things in the first three days – day and night, water and sky, land and water. For the next three days, He fills each environment with the appropriate creations – sun and celestials, fish and birds, animals and humans. 

Later, God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” and then He does that very thing (Genesis 1:26-27). How are we like God? How do we bear His image? These are questions I asked my 9 and 6-year-old children. We talked about what God was already doing in Genesis. He created, put things in order, and established relationships and communion with humans. As created beings, we also display that likeness. We are creative beings. We eventually get tired of our messy habitat and clean and reset it. We, too, desire relationships, even if we deny them with our apathetic actions and lack of intentionality. 

Whether you find yourself leaning into this type of goal setting or resisting the resolution urge, you are displaying a hint of the image of God. We can choose to ignore this as a divine thing. We can even label it an environmental adaptation to survive as a species. We may be completely antagonistic, but even still, we display marks of the One who created us. 

What do we do with that information? For starters, we can thank our Creator for putting that desire within us, causing us to look a bit like Him. Then, we can embrace this as an opportunity to display God within us (if He truly is) for the benefit of ourselves and others and to glorify Him. It may look like being intentional with the calendar to make space for serving others and sharing time with friends and strangers. We can also eliminate clutter in our hearts and minds. What has too much negative or ungodly influence? How can we fill the voids in our hearts? (Hint – that answer doesn’t come from within; it comes from God’s Word.)

Well, that is enough for now. Two of my sons just found a mound of stink bugs in the shed they are cleaning and organizing. I have decor sitting in front of my fireplace that I need to shelve, and I need to put something on the calendar before I forget and double-book myself.

Ashlie Miller and her husband, Chad, are reading through the Bible with the congregation of their new church family in Charlotte – Mission Bible Church.

By Ashlie Miller

Are you reflecting on the year this weekend and looking forward to the coming year? Our calendar begins the year “January” as a tribute to the Roman god Janus, who, with two faces, looked at beginnings and endings, transitions, and passageways. You may reflect with great pleasure and look forward with anticipation of great things. Maybe you pray Psalm 65:11, “You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.”

Perhaps you look back, however, with a sigh and sorrow. The late Queen Elizabeth II referred to 1992 as her “annus horribilis” (Latin for “horrible year”). A significant fire upon Windsor Castle and scandal after scandal within the marriages of her adult children certainly brought much scrutiny and criticism. The effects of the pandemic in 2020 may have made that year an “annus horribilis” for you, or perhaps you have another year (or two!) that you look upon with sadness and grief.

Back in 2018, when my husband and I were dealing with many issues in parenting, ministry, and a new diagnosis of what would eventually lead to a terminal illness in my family, I recall equating the season to a “crappy year” (a word I am not prone to use freely). My husband, who could greatly empathize but is always optimistic, responded, “These are the types of years that can be fertilizer years.” Like the prepackaged bags of nutrient-rich plant food filled with their pungent odor, “fertilizer years” come into our lives to promote growth. Undesirable things like scraps, debris, decay, and other unmentionables are the ingredients that make fertilizer. The same can be true of what a year can hold for us. It may be smelly and feel more like punishment or even judgment, but years like this can lead to self-analyzation and asking our Creator and Savior to reveal any hindrances to our growth and “lead us in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). Maybe it is not a fertilizer year of our own making. We are in a flow of burdens we did not take on. These burdens placed upon us hopefully call others in the community of Christ to step in and help us carry them (Galatians 5:6). Sometimes, however, the weight is so crushing and personal that even the fellowship of believers is not enough to lighten it. It is a time to lean into the Maker and Sustainer (Psalm 55:22).

God is at work. He often works deep in the ground, below the surface, at the root. Though tilling, watering, and pruning are all effective in our growth, eventually, a dose of fertilizer is necessary. They are things we would not ask for – relocation, death of a loved one, a new diagnosis of a chronic or even life-limiting illness, the loss of a job, death of a dream, a closed door – so many things that will happen in a broken world and can often pile up in a small window of time. Still, they are God-ordained in their timing in life.

It can be enough to throw up our hands in despair; for a moment, we may. Hopefully, it drives us to our knees, in submission, with hands of surrender and accepting our reality. There, in trouble, God meets us (Psalm 46:1-3). He communes with us (1 John 1:3). He lifts our heads (Psalm 3:3). He reminds us He has abundant love for us (Psalm 86:15).

As you reflect on your year, whether in joy or despair, I pray you see the goodness of God and look forward with hope and anticipation of growth. If not, I pray you reach that point by leaning into the Father. There is still time.

Ashlie Miller is certainly no gardener, but she cultivates her home with her husband, Chad and their five children in Concord, NC. Email her at mrs.ashliemiller@gmail.com.