Word of the Year!
As many of you may remember, each year I choose a "word of the year." The word is a sort of theme for the year. I always ask the Lord for this word, and He is always faithful to give me a word. This year, I didn't like my word.
I was journaling a few weeks ago, and I let the Lord know that I would write whatever He told me. I was nothing more than the pen manipulator. I wrote as fast as the words came to my mind. I was doing fine keeping up, but then I got my word. (An aside: I wasn't asking for the word. I wasn't expecting to get the word. It just came.) I didn't like it, and I tried to stop and argue. (I spend too much time arguing with the creator of the universe.) As I kept writing, I was specifically told to blog my word. Guess God knows I would have skipped that had I not been told otherwise.
I let the word simmer for almost 2 weeks. The Lord sweetly spoke to me for those two weeks, clarifying what He had for me with this word. The word that once scared me and made Tony ask me to ask for a different word now feels so comfortable. It stills has me questioning, but now it's a questioning that comes with the confidence that Jesus has it under control.
And, I'm glad, because I'm going to need Him. To guide. To comfort. To be near.
The Lord told me that my word for 2014 is Pain. Not physical pain. Perhaps emotional or spiritual or relational. I don't know. I do know that I have not been guaranteed a year of misery. Instead, I need to focus on dealing with pain. Working through pain to prevent hardness or bitterness.
This word comes at an interesting time in my life. I've been watching people I love struggle, in old age, with the hurts of decades long past. I've been asking how dealing with that pain differently in the moment would have changed those people's nows. I've spent much time praying with friends about their hurts, and I've been open with the pain I deal with.
More than that, I look around at the world, and I see so many children and women hurting. That truth is something the Lord has been bringing to my life more boldly and more frequently. I've been brought to the place of asking what my role is in that.
Before I digress into rambling, I close with wishing you a very happy 2014. I pray that you're seeking the Lord- if not for a word- for His will for your year. Blessings to each of you!
I was journaling a few weeks ago, and I let the Lord know that I would write whatever He told me. I was nothing more than the pen manipulator. I wrote as fast as the words came to my mind. I was doing fine keeping up, but then I got my word. (An aside: I wasn't asking for the word. I wasn't expecting to get the word. It just came.) I didn't like it, and I tried to stop and argue. (I spend too much time arguing with the creator of the universe.) As I kept writing, I was specifically told to blog my word. Guess God knows I would have skipped that had I not been told otherwise.
I let the word simmer for almost 2 weeks. The Lord sweetly spoke to me for those two weeks, clarifying what He had for me with this word. The word that once scared me and made Tony ask me to ask for a different word now feels so comfortable. It stills has me questioning, but now it's a questioning that comes with the confidence that Jesus has it under control.
And, I'm glad, because I'm going to need Him. To guide. To comfort. To be near.
The Lord told me that my word for 2014 is Pain. Not physical pain. Perhaps emotional or spiritual or relational. I don't know. I do know that I have not been guaranteed a year of misery. Instead, I need to focus on dealing with pain. Working through pain to prevent hardness or bitterness.
This word comes at an interesting time in my life. I've been watching people I love struggle, in old age, with the hurts of decades long past. I've been asking how dealing with that pain differently in the moment would have changed those people's nows. I've spent much time praying with friends about their hurts, and I've been open with the pain I deal with.
More than that, I look around at the world, and I see so many children and women hurting. That truth is something the Lord has been bringing to my life more boldly and more frequently. I've been brought to the place of asking what my role is in that.
Before I digress into rambling, I close with wishing you a very happy 2014. I pray that you're seeking the Lord- if not for a word- for His will for your year. Blessings to each of you!
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