A New Word For A New Year

Happy New Year!!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas celebrating together with family and friends as we did. We had presents and feasts of food, but best of all was the reminder that our God is not a God who stands afar off, but He is an intervening God. He is Emmanuel, God with us. May we live with this truth not only on Christmas but every day...the Savior of the World has come and longs to draw near to you, to intervene in your life in every way when you allow Him room.

As we say goodbye to Christmas and hello to the New Year, a new set of habits often kick in when the calendar flips to January. Gone is the indulgence of December and in comes the cleaning out, exercising, clean eating and budgeting of the new year. :) While it is sad to pack up the Christmas decorations and put away the tree, there is also something exciting to me about the newness of the year. It is an opportunity for a fresh start, a clean slate not only for a new year but for a new decade. It is a natural starting point to work on something new, to get rid of old clutter and bad habits, to cast vision for what you want to do and who you want to be. So while I always drag a little into January, a few days in I am ready and invigorated for a fresh start.

A few years back a friend of mine shared with me the idea of praying over and choosing a "word" for the year. Apparently this is "a thing," which I actually didn't know until this year. :) This is my third year choosing a word and I have really enjoyed the practice. For me it goes a little something like this...right around the new year I pray a simple prayer for God to give me a word for the year. And wouldn't you know it, each time a single word has popped into my head that is just perfect for the season and place that I am in, meeting me where I am but also challenging me to more. This is not always the case for me, I do not always pray and receive an immediate answer or direction for every request. But in this case it has so far, and it has been a really cool experience to have a single word to lend "shape" to my year and serve as a sort of a vision and road map for where I am going. I'll share with you my last few words so I can give you an example of what I mean by this.

My first year of doing this my word was ENGAGE. My youngest child was two. It was hitting me that we were out of the "child bearing" and into the "child raising" years and that it was all flying by. Sometimes that was a good thing, sometimes that was a hard thing, and usually it was a blend. This simple word ENGAGE reminded me to be in it...in the day, in the moment. To not miss it. Time can neither fast forward nor rewind. So when I was sitting at the park with my kids...engage. When I wanted to finish cleaning but they needed me...engage. It was a challenge and a reminder to "be present." It is easy to be present physically but checked out mentally, especially with the constant access to technology we have. ENGAGE was the word I needed. It continues to challenge me today, to be present in the moment I am in, to ENGAGE. That was 2018 :)

2019 was a different kind of word. It was the word DRIVE. This seemed to me a strange word at first but then it came with a picture that made it all clear.

A little backstory...I am a great passenger. I'm happy to let my husband drive on road trips, and likewise I can sit back in my faith and say, "You got this God, all I have to do is sit back and let you drive, let you do the work." And there can be truth in that. God has done the work of salvation for example, we do not need to do it but to receive it. But this in not the end of the story. I receive first, then I do. I receive salvation because of what Jesus has done on the cross, and then I make every effort to be holy as He is Holy (1 Peter 1:16), to live a life worthy of the calling I have received (Ephesians 4:1), to love others as He has loved me. (John 13:34). I receive, then I do. Doing does not earn grace, but grace leads to faith leads to works.

So, back from my rabbit trail there. Here is the picture I got with the word DRIVE. Too often I sat in the passenger seat in the hopes of allowing God to be the driver. But He was calling me to get out of the passenger seat and sit in the driver's seat. He would be the GPS, telling me turn by turn where to go. He would be with me and lead me, but I needed to put in some effort here and DRIVE the car.

Make sense? To me it was profound and hit me full on. As a great receiver and waiter, I was challenged to get up and go. The blog was a response to this, as well as other things. DRIVE to me meant stepping out in faith and doing. Don't wait, don't sit back and just be along for the ride, do it. It was God telling me the time was now, time to DRIVE.

(Disclaimer- God is also a God of wait, receive, trust, release. So be sure to pray and see what He is saying to you.)

And finally, the moment you have all eagerly been waiting for! ;) The word for 2020 is, drumroll please....

DISCIPLINE.

Ok, I'll admit it, it is not a shiny or a super fun word. People don't usually get super excited about discipline, me included. But I have no doubt it is the word for me for this year. Again, a little about me... I am a great starter and a bad finisher sometimes. I can have awesome intentions and dreams, and when it gets hard talk myself out of it, let it slip away, slowly just abandon that great idea. So DISCIPLINE to me is a powerful and challenging

• In planning meals and feeding my family well...discipline

• In keeping up the house to provide a peaceful home for my family...discipline

• In getting this non morning person out of bed instead of snoozing my alarm to spend time with the Lord...discipline

• In speaking words of encouragement and truth and taking the time to write a note or letter to a friend who is on my mind...discipline

• In not raising my voice but building my kids with my words...discipine

• In consistently sharing the things God puts on my heart to share on the blog...discipline

• In sowing seed of truth in my kids and teaching them the Word of God...discipline

• In selflessly loving my husband...discipline

• In praying for people I say I will pray for...discipline

• In doing what God calls me to do, in obeying because He loves me and wants to do great things in and through me...discipline

And on and on it goes. Discipline is the work of being a finisher. It is making the effort. It is more than having good intentions, it is following through. It is saying no to something easy now for something better later. And here is why I am excited about it, because I know without a doubt that discipline brings blessing. When I discipline myself to make time to get in God's presence, I get to hear His voice and am blessed. When I tell myself no to easy convenience foods and feed my family whole, real foods, we are healthier and are blessed. When I follow through on an act of kindness that pops in my head, I am blessed by the act of kindness and reminded of God's kindness to me. Discipline is sometimes hard, but it is so so good. So for me, 2020 will be a year of DISCIPLINE and I cannot wait to see all God does in my life and in yours.

Well friends, I hope that you are encouraged by the words God has given me, and even more, that you are encouraged to go to Him and ask Him for a word for you. He is a God who speaks. Ask Him, and know that He has new and good things He wants to do in and through you at the start of this new year and new decade!

Are you a word person too? If so I’d love to hear some of your words.

I will close with this passage from Isaiah 43 (please do me a favor and go read all of Isaiah chapter 43!)

16 Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea

and a path through the surging waters,

17 who brings out the chariots and horses,

the armies and warriors together,

to lie down, never to rise again;

to be extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

18 “Do not call to mind the former things;

pay no attention to the things of old.

19 Behold, I am about to do something new;

even now it is coming. Do you not see it?

Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness

and streams in the desert.

20 The beasts of the field will honor Me,

the jackals and the owls,

because I provide water in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert,

to give drink to My chosen people.

21 The people I formed for Myself

will declare My praise.