January 15, 2025

Author Shonda Rhimes had her fill of terrible dates. In her book The Year of Yes she shares that most of the dates she went on she thought the guys would be great candidates but they were totally unsatisfying. She got sick of her own taste and decided that fate couldn’t mess up her love life anymore than she could, and it might just do a better job. So she decided to take her personal tastes out of the equation and put aside all her preconceptions. Instead—-as she vowed to her roommate one morning—-for the next year she would date every person who asked her out. In the past, Shonda had refused a deli worker’s invitation because she assumed he hadn’t read enough books. A taxi driver’s offer was refused because Shonda thought they wouldn’t have anything in common, and she said no to short guys though she was short.

All of that changed. It would be the Year of Yes. She ended up dating half of NYC. There was a homeless guy who thought he was Jimi Hendrix, a subway conductor, a mommy-obsessed millionaire, even a woman who asked Shonda to have her baby, a 70-year-old salsa dancer, a Colombian Cowboy/Handyman, her high school nemesis, whom she’d spent seven years rejecting, and a mime. He proposed with hand gestures and body language.

Jeremiah 29:10–14 (ESV): 10 “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Many times we believe God is the God of no and so we live our lives as if God is not going to do anything great in our lives or the lives of others. God is the God of “yes” to His promises. They may take time to be fulfilled but God will keep His promises. One of the greatest promises is that if we seek Him, we will find Him. Today, begin believing that God will keep His promises. Seek Him and step out in faith that He will not only show Himself but will be with you in all that you do.

Pastor Aaron


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