Word of the Year

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I’m so excited for all that God has in 2015. It was a busy 2014..busy but fun! Each year I have been picking a word to study and dig deeper into for the entire year. This word is as much for my family as it is for me. I try to walk through this with them in family life as the year progresses.

Last year my word was slow and here is what I learned:

Slow for me represents a life surrendered, a life in love with God, a life obedient, a life in worship.

Living slow is a mindset, a lifestyle and a gift. I achieve that by planning to be intentional and creative with my time, surrounding myself with smarter and like-minded people, and making sure that’s God’s will of sanctification in my life is evident through accountability to my husband, my family, my community by actively living out his word and continuing in relationship. This is how I can live slow. To know that God’s hand is out for me, not just when I fall but all the time. So my weariness and hard days, when guilt won’t release me, won’t flourish because I know that I am his precious daughter and he gives grace to me by holding his hand out for me.

This year I picked the word joy.

Joy is an unending satisfaction in the Lord..an appetite no sin craving can fulfill.

How many have trouble suffering well? (Hand raised) I do. It’s in my sin-filled nature to only see what hurt’s me or ticks me off and not see grace as an opportunity for all. Not only that, it’s in my sin-filled heart to lolli-gag when I’m supposed to be working hard or find it hard look to Jesus with a glad heart when it hurts.

Looking to Jesus when it hurts, is overwhelming, looks to hard or is difficult. That is not always easy, but God provides a way that is wiser, to navigate through it. I want to learn to look to the hills from whence cometh my help, love when I shouldn’t be, be diligent when life is crazy…with a glad heart. That is key. Jesus did it, so can I. Why? Because I abide in him, and him in me. When I confessed with my mouth and believed in my heart that he was Lord of my life, my sin-filled nature was redeemed by his blood and raised to life in him. He gives me strength to ask for joy, strive for joy and count it all joy ( James 1:2-4).

So this year I will be unpacking what it looks like to live in the joy of the Lord, doing life well by suffering well, and allowing that to spill over into every area of my life.

Do you have a word for the year? How do you dig in?