Several years ago, I started hearing about people choosing a “word of the year” to serve as their focal point, guiding idea, or inspiration for the year ahead. The idea appealed to me, but unlike most of the people I heard about, I knew I didn’t want to be the one to choose my word, so I went to God in prayer.
I asked the Lord whether it was okay for me to undertake this, and if so, if He would please give me a word for the year and walk me through the process of using it as my word of the year.
When you pray, you should expect an answer – whether it’s yes, no, or wait. So I started paying closer attention to what was going on around me, believing God would either somehow communicate a word to me, or His answer would be a no. Before long, I realized a particular theme was being echoed in various parts of my life. That’s when I knew I was being given my word: REST.
I learned a lot about REST that year. Not just the type of rest where you sit down or relax or give your body tie to recover, but also resting on God’s promises, resting in His Word, and finding spiritual, mental, and emotional rest.
Since then, I’ve had the words GRACE, BALANCE, LISTEN, FORWARD, and IGNORE as well. In each instance, I learned much – bout the word, about myself, about how God wanted me to apply it to my life, and how it shows up in His Word. There was one year He didn’t give me a word, even though I had asked for one. I stuck with what I was given the previous year.
For 2024, I didn’t ask for a word. I think I felt like I had enough going on. Nevertheless, the Lord gave me a word.
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