I have to say that I hadn’t heard of #OneWord until toward the beginning of 2014. The funny thing is that my family and I participated in this last year, at the end of 2013. Choosing our #OneWord and backing it up with scripture to enforce it.
My #OneWord was “invest.”
And I have to say that I wasn’t overly thrilled with that word, nor the scripture that was upon my heart for the year. I’d chosen Deuteronomy 6:7, “Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”
Invest was to be investing in my children more in regard to my faith.
I don’t know why this bothered me so. Perhaps it was because I knew God was peeling back my layers and exposing a lot of things I just didn’t want to talk about. They’re young, after all, and some discussions just aren’t ready for young ears.
But God showed me as the months went on how important it was for me to share where I struggled in faith, in life experiences, in friendships, with family, as a wife, as a mother… And they were the best conversations I’d had all year. My 10 and 7 year old remember these conversations in such detail that you’d swear they’d watched it, mesmerized, on a movie screen in full-blown animation.
I ended the year strongly with my #OneWord. I took about two months off from the normal schedule my life tends to be lead by and made sure that I was more focused on them than anything else. That’s certainly not to say I ignore them the rest of the time. 😉 But I threw off more moments of me standing in the laundry room folding clothes, my nose submersed in a book on a Saturday morning rather than cuddling up with them, my need for keeping to the schedule rather than throwing it all away to just be Mommy rather than Mom.
…there’s a difference, you know.
My #OneWord from last year still remains in my heart and in the forefront of my mind as I march into the new year. I realize how important it is to make sure that I’m not taking those moments for granted. My children see my faith. I know they do. But conversation is a must. Talking about my life is critical – especially in how God is answering the prayers of their father and me.
I gotta say that, this year, I was going to skip the word. My children’s words are the same as they were last year and I didn’t want to make any changes. But, for me, I wanted a year off to focus on more than just #OneWord.
God really wasn’t cool with that.
He’s put a word on my heart for months now. I wake up to it each morning and it’s one of the first words that I read. It reminds me that everything is in due time. It reminds me that there is absolutely no room for pride in my life. I’ve even dreamt about it… Do you dream about your #OneWord?
My #OneWord for 2015 is humble. And my scripture is 1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you…”
So often I stare at a reflection in the mirror and wonder why I haven’t arrived to a certain destination. I feel let down. Frustrated. A little angry, perhaps. And then the reflection becomes cloudy with fog as pride covers up who I am in this moment and tries to replace it with another image of who I think I should be. Where I think I should be.
He has reminded me over and over to be content in the place He has me. To be humble and hold to this place I need to be embracing.
And do you want to know the crazy thing about this? It works! Being humble works.
This scripture is my lifeline right now and one that I know He wants me to carry into 2015 as I, again, try to lift myself up that ladder on my own and tell myself that “I’ve got this” when, in reality, I don’t.
He does.
I am nothing without His mighty hand. His mighty grace. His mighty love. And I deserve nothing at all.
I love where He has me right now. In all of the uncertainty, in all of the hoping for something new…something more I am letting go of control for the first time and just letting His hand do the writing.
He will carry me from this place. He will. When I am ready. When I am confident in Him.
…at the proper time.
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Do you have a #OneWord for 2015 you’d like to share? Follow the link over to (in)courage and leave a comment with your #OneWord for a chance to win that word in the beautiful Letterpress blocks by Dayspring that are shown below. They’ll choose one winner for every 100 comments so be sure to share this post on FB for an opportunity for your friends. Join us for #OneWord!
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