The Year of Shmita

July 31, 2025

The Year of Shmita

At our favorite coffee shop

A sabbatical day in Dallas

I’ve been reflecting on the past seven years of ministry and marriage, and I’m blown away that it’s already been that long. Drew and I got married just three weeks before we started working for FOCUS, so we’ve never really known marriage apart from ministry—and the love and support it brings.

Our Denton Team for next year!!

If you know anything about Hebrew numerology, you’ll know that seven is a significant number to the Lord. On the seventh day, God rested from His work in creation. The number seven is associated with wholeness, completeness, and even perfection. On the seventh day, the Jews were called to rest from their labor and remember that God is God—that we are His people, holy and set apart, and that even when we’re not working, God still is. In the seventh year, Jews were to free their Hebrew slaves, cancel debts, and give the land rest. That year was called Shmita—the sabbath year.

Summer Thursday Night Fellowship

It feels like so much has happened in these seven years, but the constant has been God showing up for me and for the people I love. Our Denton staff is growing—we’re adding three more people—and as we bring them on, I find myself sharing my testimony again. It’s a sweet reminder that my story didn’t end in college. God has moved in really big ways: helping me transition to Denton, carrying me through chemo and radiation, walking with me through pregnancy and a traumatic birth where I almost died, and now into motherhood. All of that, alongside the incredible ministry I’ve been part of with FOCUS over these past seven years.

The fourth with some current and past focus students

I’m thankful for it all. Every high and every valley has led me to where I am today.

Ran into a student leading a small group over the summer in a well known coffee shop in Denton. Their devotion to the word made me weep

This month actually started in a bit of a valley. Our one working car was rear-ended—possibly totaled—we had to remove a tree that was threatening to crush our house, and on top of it all, we’ve been deep in the chaos of prepping for the new ministry year. (Which is so exciting because we have more student leaders than we had last year! Be praying for them!)

So many kids birthday parties this month! I’m thankful for so many little friends

But even in all of that, I’m thankful to be walking with God through it. In early June, I felt prompted to fast from sugar to confront the ways I had turned to it as a coping mechanism. Basically right after I started the fast, I got into the accident and had to figure out how to make our other cars functional again. It was incredibly stressful. Normally, I would’ve reached for a sweet treat to get me through the day. But I’ve been learning to retrain myself—to go to God first. That might sound small or even silly, but I think it’s much easier to turn to anything but God. Other things numb me. God sits with me in my emotions.

A very large, very old Bible!

And I’m actively fighting against the numbness.

Because numbness makes me less empathetic and less attuned to the people around me. It doesn’t make me look more like God—it makes me look more like the lifeless idols I’m tempted to follow. Choosing to sit in my emotions with God is hard. Opening myself up to the floodgates of what I feel is hard. Being real with God is hard. Admitting I still have a long way to go is hard.

But I think this is the work of this seventh year. I’m releasing what doesn’t look like God. I’m choosing to rest in His goodness. I’m choosing to find joy, even in the midst of chaos.

Ways to pray this month:

-Pray for incoming students to know Jesus and encounter him through his people

-Pray for our pastors to get fully fundraised!

-Pray for our pastoral team to grow closer to God and each other

-Pray that we can be anointed with the Spirit and overflowing with grace for one another

Anyways, if you’d like to give, I’m not far from my fundraising goal! Anything over goes to help out the team in Denton! https://web.charityengine.net/DarbyCleveland