To be completely honest, I felt really silly picking a word of the year this year.
My word in 2019 was abundance, and that year was a crushing year of blow after blow. We started out the New Year in a hospital room at the Children’s hospital praying for Ezra to recover from RSV. This was followed that very week by the passing of my Grandma. We spent 10 months trying to unsuccessfully sell our house, we dealt with an incredibly challenging and dangerous living situation for those 10 months, Theo shredded his hamstring and had months of painful recovery. Our vehicle died and we had to replace it. The list goes on and on and it did NOT feel like abundance. I truly believe that God lays a word on my heart and I think what He was trying to teach me in 2019 is that abundance can be found in Him alone. No matter the circumstances surrounding our lives, God provides abundance for us.
My word for 2020 was dwell. Oops, sorry, everyone. I did NOT know that 2020 would involve much more dwelling at home than I wished. HAHA. What I learned from 2020 was that I need to dwell in God alone. He is our refuge and strength, and an ever present help in trouble. Even when the mountains are falling into the heart of the sea, God is our fortress and dwelling place.
So I’ve learned my lesson this year. I am still choosing a word of the year, but instead of taking the word and trying to “manifest” it’s many advantages into my life, I’m taking my Word and using it to learn more about the character of God and his promises surrounding the Word. Some promises may already be fulfilled, and some promises may be coming. Some of those promises may come in the year of our Lord 2021, but some may not come until the day I arrive in heaven.
I wrestled with choosing a word this year, but finally one night as I tossed and turned, I heard God whisper “RESTORE”.
I honestly didn’t want to think about that. Don’t get me wrong– restoration is exactly what I want and need at this time in my life. But I was scared to take that word as my word of the year, because somehow it seems that God always takes me the long and hard way to get to my word of the year. If the past two years are any indication, my year usually looks like the OPPOSITE of my word, which really teaches me to rely on the Lord and cling to him. But I really, really, really don’t want a year that is the opposite of restoration.
So here is a brief look at my word and how I will be choosing to implement it throughout the year:
Restore: return to a former condition, place or position
Theme Verse: “Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me, by giving me a willing spirit.” (Psalm 51:12)
How I want to apply it: I want to use this year to heal from the events and traumas that have happened in the past two years. I would like to renew and refresh my faith so it’s not flapping around in shreds like it has been for the past couple of months. I would also like to work immensely on my mental health, so I can return to a state of daily health and stability. I would like to restore and refresh some relationships that feel especially brittle after the police/race and political trauma of this year. And I would like to put a lot of time and work into our marriage so that we can restore and renew our oneness amidst all of the stress and trauma that has come our way.
Practical ways I plan to do this: I have a fairly decent morning devotional routine right now, but I want to take time studying restoration in Scripture on Sundays. I briefly glanced through all the times it is used in Scripture and can follow the word restoration as it arcs through the Creation-Fall-Redemption narrative. I want to study how the Israelites were promised restoration but didn’t see it for generations. I want to study some of the prophets who preached restoration. I want to study how Jesus promised and fulfilled restoration. And I want to see how restoration WILL BE fully fulfilled and granted to us in the future. I’m also excited to look up the Hebrew and Greek of the Word and basically do a deep dive into the topical study of restoration. If anyone has any book recommendations, let me know!
I sure hope that the circumstances of this coming year give me more time to sit back and relax my shoulders, instead of providing stressful trauma after trauma. But since that is not guaranteed, I know I need to focus on the relationships that I currently have. So, less phone time and more quality time. Less worry and stress and more prayer. Less complaining and more faith that God is good, no matter what.
What about you? Do you pick a word of the year? If so, what is is your word this year? Why did you pick and how do you plan to implement it?