What's Your Word?

A few years ago I came upon the idea of choosing a word in December for the next year of life. It’s just a way of purposing your year. Kind of setting a goal or a vision and praying God’s blessing on it. Last year I chose the word ADVENTURE. I look back at 2012 and the word fit. I drove across country with my husband and my mother-in-law in January, became a mother of a teenager in February, landed in the hospital for three days in March, lost my agent and attended a writing conference that God used big-time in my life in April, started menopause in May, took a three-week fantastic vacation in June, became a second time grandma in August, turned 50 in September, and self published a book in December. It will come out next week! (I will send you an email and let you know how to order it if you want.)

So what word for 2013?

Recently I asked some folks to pray for me in my weight loss/get healthy journey. I’ve realized that it is much more than eating well and exercising. It is a spiritual battle. I want to fully step into what God has for me and that means dealing with my obesity. Truly committing myself to this and the pain that working out brings is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.

One of my friends and one of the most interesting people I know, Cheryl Velk, sent me a note about persevering. She always mentioned the word PUSH. She said “It is partly pressing through, but it is partly delivering what God is wanting to birth in us.” And she gave me a wonderful passage of Scripture.

Romans 8:14-15 and then 22-28 from The Message

“God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go! This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?".…All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”

My word for 2013 is going to be PUSH. During those moments of pain, I need to lean on God and push. During those moments of waiting, I am going to choose to push. And like an expectant mom, I will be rewarded with whatever God is choosing to birth in me this year. A new way of life!

So, think about this. What’s your word?