Let's Wrap up 2024

Where to begin?

I rarely get sentimental or personal about aspects of my life outside of writing and encouraging others, but I have to say 2024 was a whirlwind of chaos and unpredictability. It has been a year of drastic change and a great deal of learning and discovery. While I began the year on a huge positive note by completing the novel, The Cyprus Journal, and then releasing it on Orthodox Easter, things quickly changed. 

In all honesty, these changes hit me much harder than I thought they did and even more than I let on. I don’t know how many of those who read this blog even care about the pressures and worries of being a writer discovering their voice and brand, but you can always skip this posting and move on to something else. I won’t take it personally, nor do I plan to do this kind of post that often. However, I cannot move into celebration of what I believe is to come until I’ve come to terms with how I have gotten to where I am at this present moment.

There is so much I could blast out into the world about why change happens and what scriptures can help people through it all. In truth, I might even write a devotional about it someday. However, there is something about the reality of our struggles, as writers and people, that affects what direction we take with any given new year. We talk about new beginnings almost every year, and what our goals are for the next 12 months, but what we hide from those we care about is the real depth of what we feel.

I wrote about this in the first part of The Ephesus Pages: A Journey Begins. While I was excited to end on a higher note, I won’t keep you with the details of what I’m referring to, but I will tell you that this topic is a huge part of the journey that the protagonists embark upon throughout the first 10 Episodes of this series. In essence, Aristarchus and John Mark will face personal struggles, receiving guidance from specific mentors to help them overcome their challenges. When I wrote these aspects of the story, I was writing from experience and a lot of it came from what 2024 brought me personally.

Let’s be honest here. Sometimes our emotions get the better of us and we struggle to grasp situations that are placed in our path. There are times when we simply just fail. It is a part of life and all of us have to deal with it. Do we like the idea of working through all of these things? Not really, but we can, and should, learn to grow from each experience. Is it easy? Not always, but is it worth it? I can honestly say I believe it is. This year has not been easy in any viable way. With each step I felt I took forward, I discovered it was taking also at least two steps back, and sometimes four or five.

Many of the decisions I faced led me deeper into a seemingly endless forest that I could not find my way in. Without the help of people I trust, I do not think I would have found a better way. Am I out of that forest yet? The path ahead isn’t perfectly clear, but I can see a dimly lit trail in front of me. My understanding of the situations I am facing has grown and I am looking forward to what 2025 brings. This is going to be a season in which I believe resilience is going to be a guiding source of light that will take me into whatever the year will bring. Life’s challenges are always present. To move forward, we must overcome the crippling cost of fear that prevents us from embracing progress and growth. 

Whether we realize it, what holds us back when these situations come toward us is that word; Fear. For me, that word is rooted in overcoming fear of the unknown. I truly believe that impacts others as well and that it keeps us from finding our way. It may manifest in other ways, but that is where it all comes from. There is much more to say on this matter, but this post is already much longer than I expected it would be. So for now, let me leave you with this… 

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”

Hebrews 11:1 NLT

See you in the pages, 

MJE