Celebrating Our Remarkable 1st Anniversary!

I can now say I am a blogger, educator, author, and minister! My 50 Remarkable Things blog has been such a blessing! I thank God for your love, support and feedback. I pray that this Remarkable Things journey has blessed you, as much as it has blessed, taught, encouraged, prepared, and guided me to see the Remarkable blessings from God in my everyday life!

As we move forward, I hope and pray that you are able to use the lessons learned to re-imagine a life of contentment from God’s perspective. We can’t go back to life as we knew it. We have lost so much during this global pandemic. So much about our lives has been altered over the past year. Our schools, churches, businesses and travel had to be reimagined during this crisis in order for us to protect ourselves and others. The economic impact has been devastating. Unfortunately, the pandemic also claimed the lives of over 543,975 deaths in this country (www.covid.dcd.gov) and over 2.7 million deaths globally according to data from the World Health Organization (www.covid.who.int).

The year 2020 was a Remarkable Year that is certainly one for the history books. The sting, struggle, and sacrifices from 2020 will never leave us; but, I am not sure they should. As I contemplate 2020, there are seven major events that captured the essence of this Remarkable Year for me, and they are:

• The global pandemic;

• The social justice movement (initiated after the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless others);

• The Confederate Flag in Mississippi Came Down;

• A Remarkable Time of Study (The book of Proverbs);

• Losing my father;

• My 50th Birthday Celebration; and

• The Insurrection at our Nation’s Capitol.

Each of the blog posts mentioned above demonstrate the highs and lows of the year. Yet, we know that according to God’s Word, He is sovereign, faithful, just, and loves us. Lamentations 3:37-38 states, Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the most high that good and bad come? We also find in Job 2:10, He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. But, we also know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Because of this, we can Trust God and can have peace and contentment in any situation.

On this Palm Sunday, it is with hope and joy that I celebrate my 1st Anniversary! Before I started this 50 Remarkable Things journey, I was looking for those Remarkable big things. But I have learned from 2020, that life itself is a Remarkable blessing! I thank God, my family (my mom, Larry Aldridge, Brenda Moore and Centdrika Hurt), Bishop-Elect Anthony G. Maclin, Gaby Watts, MiMi Robinson, Jarin Penn, Anthony Maye, Monica Lyles, Ashley Jackson, my Thought Leadership Board, the Re-Imagining Contentment Community and you for your love and support!

Please look forward to the Remarkable in your daily life whether big or small,

as we continue on this Remarkable journey!

Love you! Happy Palm Sunday!

Dr. ReShone