Are you a “One Word” girl?
Do you pick a theme word for the year as a way of focusing on a particular lesson or idea?
Long before One Word became a thing, I was a one word girl, seeking God to impress upon my heart a message for the coming year. It was a natural overflow from some deep and long seasons filled with trials and challenges. I need HIS word to speak to hope to my heart, not only when things are tough but even when they are good. It’s so easy to get distracted by blessings and drift from clinging single-heartedly to the Lord. Don’t you agree?
[Tweet “My passion for One Word is a really a passion for HIS WORD. “]
My One Word points me back to a Scripture truth . . . and sometimes more than one. I scribble my One Word on post-it notes and mark-up my mirrors with dry erase pens. I make graphics and put them in frames to keep the focus fresh. I write my One Word mission on chalkboards positioned in key places around my home, like my desk and in the kitchen, where I’ll easily be distracted by life’s challenges and pressures.
As I’ve sought the Lord for a One Word for 2016, He’s taken me on quite the circuitous adventure. Themes kept popping up, so I began scribbling them down on my One Word worksheet. I look for patterns to detect His lessons. And boy, were there patterns. Again and again, I wrote down:
Rest
Refuel
Steadfast
Persevere
Simplify
Magnify
Holy
And yet, in the midst of all these words, there were over-arching themes I couldn’t shake. The word, Chosen, has been on my heart and mind for the last two years, spurring me on as I wrote Meet the New You. For me, learning how to believe that God has chosen me as His own as the antidote of feeling rejected by people, has been a huge healing journey . . . and I’m not all the way through it yet. The fear of rejection makes me want to run for the hills, while God is challenging me to turn into it and push through. In the last month, my husband and I have been talking long and deep about my struggle to persevere in the face of fear and insecurity. Oh man, do I hate being uncomfortable at the soul level . . . like when you have to keep working at something without seeing the fruit or pushing past disappointment or opposition. It’s become pretty clear that at the root level, I mask these fears by coming up with some big new idea or sudden passion for a project that could really wait for another time. It’s really idolatry at the heart level, where that thing becomes my security blanket instead of putting my trust in the Lord alone.
In many ways, I’ve been living a Plan B life in which I scheme and plot and try to control everything in an effort to be safe and sheltered from pain. God’s pushing me to give up Plan B and rest in His Plan A. What does that look like? Well, for this year, it looks like having a Life Word and verse unpacked with seasons of Words . . .
CHOSEN
1 Peter 2:9 NIV
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession,
that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
January – March
Holy Boldness
April – June
Simplify & Magnify
July – September
Restful Refueling
October – December
Steadfast Perserving
Trust me, this season of words is not something I came up with myself. The Lord whispered this concept into my heart as I stared at my pages of one words. After coming through such an intense year of writing a book and moving, I most definitely believe that 2016 is meant to be a year in which I grow and rest, submit and surrender, press on and pause. It’s a both/and year and One Word won’t do. It’s a year for many words, as I dig into the Word that gives life through a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus.
John 1:1
It’s a year to be open to His leading and eager to receive His love in my heart in a whole new way as I continue to uncover what it means to answer the call He’s put on my life to declare the praises of Him who brought me out of darkness and into His wonderful light.
What One Word or Many Words is the Lord inviting you to discover anew this year?
How can you approach each day with a desire to dig deep into His lessons and experience His transforming power in your life?
Friend, a new year is upon us. Isn’t it time to meet the new you?
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P.S. This worksheet is compatible with the Restart Planner.
I LOVE this!! I just posted about this on my ministry Facebook page. My word this year that God has given me is Freedom. Both for within myself and as the purpose for the ministry He has given me. I relate so well to the struggles you talked about Elise. I believe it is going to be a year of deeper healing and a freedom that I have never know. My heart is for others to live in freedom in Christ. Prayerfully sooner than I have :). Jesus died for that freedom and I want to see others be able to be free to live the life that Jesus died for them to have and when we do, others will be drawn to Him. I pray for this New Year and for these words God has given you. I pray you experience Him in deeper ways as well. Thanks for sharing your heart with us and what God is doing in you. You are a blessing!!!
Desiree, thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment and share your thoughts. I pray that together we’ll experience healing in every way God desires to accomplish in us and for the ripple effect it will have on others!