The Year of the Locust

What a year, right? It has been such a difficult year for so many. That’s why we kind of feel bad that for us this year hasn’t been the typical 2020 experience. In fact, it’s been pretty great. But let’s rewind and go back to 2019 to explain.

Way back in January 2019, Mrs. Phil did something she hadn’t really done before. She picked a word of the year. She prayed and asked the Lord to give her a word that would be a sort of “theme” for the whole year. The word the Lord gave her was “transformation.” She had no idea what that meant, and it really didn’t apply for most of the year. Then in October, one conversation rocked her world completely. (You can read about this day on our “In the Beginning” post.) She learned that I, her husband, was a Christian naturist. Then I suggested it might help her with her own body issues. There is a whole lot more to the story, but she did a 180 and agreed. The Lord knew a huge transformation was going to take place in our lives, and that most definitely came to be!

Right before the calendar switched to 2020, I prayed the same prayer for the Lord to give me a word that would shape our new year. I was led to the word “Joy.” So for 2020, our word was “joy.” This was before Covid, before the heightened racial tensions, before the political frenzy. Again, the Lord proved to know what he was doing. Despite all these things that threatened to steal our joy this year, it has been a year of profound joy for us!

For me personally, there was the joy of being completely free of any draw to pornography, which had plagued me for most of my adult life. For Mrs. Phil, she came out of her bondage of extremely low self-esteem, and finally learned to love herself. Naturism played a huge part in our transformations which resulted in great joy. We celebrated our 20 year anniversary on a nude beach. We became annual members at a naturist park. We’ve enjoyed a deeper and closer relationship with each other and with God. We are teaching our children new and better principles for life, so they will not experience the years of bondage that we lived with for so long.

We started this blog to tell our story and encourage others. We called it “Aching for Eden” because we long to restore the innocence of Adam and Eve in the garden, naked and unashamed, enjoying sweet fellowship with their Creator. The phrase “aching for Eden” comes from a song from singer/songwriter Andrew Osenga. The song is called “The Year of the Locust” and comes from Joel 2:25 where God promises to restore the years the locusts have eaten.

Life is hard, and everyone has struggles and seasons of locusts and times of joy and celebration. The year 2020 will go down as one of the craziest and “worst” years for many people. For us, we had almost two decades where we had a good marriage, ministry, and family, but I was hindered because of my secret sin of pornography. It hurt my wife, and contributed to her own issues with her self concept. These were times where looking back, the “locusts” were eating. After the Lord helped to free us from our bondage and liberated us from guilt and shame, and brought us so close together, it felt as if all those years had been restored. That’s one of the reasons we love Revelation 21:5 where Jesus says, “Behold, I am making all things new.” As the song says, we can now, “Celebrate and take joy as the dry bones dance.”

When we hear this song, it brings up a lot of emotions. We usually tear up, but they are happy tears. As we hear the guitar instrumentals throughout the song, we remember how God does his work in our lives. We remember where we were and where God has now brought us.

We hope you enjoy the song that means so much to us. We wish you a happy New Year, and pray for you, our friends and readers. May 2021 bring you unexpected blessings as you strive to follow Him wholeheartedly!

Song Lyrics:

Try our hardest not to think about it
Who are we fooling? We never stop
The longing, the hurting, the doubting
Worn out from waiting for a parachute drop

Hey you, in the reflection of the rearview
of a hit and run at the drive through
Slow down, what you’re chasing isn’t something
It’s a screenshot of a rumor in town
And the Spirit moves upon the waters

Take comfort and rest
In the heart of an uncivil war and you’re taking a beating
Blood red on your chest
He will restore the years the locusts have eaten
The locusts have eaten

Don’t know how to really talk about it
We smile over coffee and turn to go
Too worn down to reach out to another
Too dried up to tend the ground where we need to grow

Our plans are a lost key to a hotel
Where we checked out to go find ourselves
It’s time, and it always was,
And it will again, but we’ll never be who we were back then
When the Spirit moved upon the waters

Take comfort and rest
When the heart is an uncivil war and you’re taking a beating
Blood red on your chest
He will restore the years the locusts have eaten
The locusts have eaten
We’re aching for Eden

Celebrate! Take joy!
As the dry bones dance
I’m on a rock in the river
In this moment, I have a place to stand
And the Spirit moves upon the waters

Take comfort and rest
When the heart is an uncivil war and you’re taking a beating
Blood red on your chest
He will restore the years the locusts have eaten
The locusts have eaten
We’re aching for Eden