Words of the Year
One of the things that I like to do in preparation for every new year is to choose certain words, phrases and bible verses to carry me into the new year. I have embraced the word searches I found online that say: “the first x words you see will define your 2022.” Here are some of the words I got this year:
Brave. An idea I was resistant to until I came to accept that I am brave. I have proven it often enough in the past year by doing things like zip lining, riding a mule along the edge of the Grand Canyon, and flying in a hot air balloon, all done despite my fear of heights. I will prove it this year by: querying my book, despite my fear of rejection; putting on events with Mental Health Tings, despite my fear that people won’t come or that I’ll lose money; and moving to New York ahead of time, despite my fear of struggling financially.
Me and my best friend in a hot air balloon.
Risky. My dictionary.com word of the year was risky, which made me upset because I knew God would put me in situations where I would have to rise to the occasion and be brave.
Commitment. My character card of 2022 was commitment and I took that to mean commitment to my goals. Backing up with my actions the things that I say I am going to do. I have some ideas in place to help me see my goals come to fruition.
Creation. I think that meaning is obvious.
Change. Particularly, the surrender that must accompany the changes God is seeking to make in my life. On New Year’s Eve, I listened to a Tribl worship set on repeat for hours and hours. The song that stuck out the most in this 3 hour long Youtube video is an unreleased song written by Bryan and Katie Torwalt. The lyrics to the chorus go, “and wouldn’t it be like You to be different than we thought, different than we want, but better.” This song stuck the most with me because if there is one thing I know it is that God will often move differently from how I think or want. If there are two things that I know, it is that God’s ways are better than my own.
Not even a half hour into the new year and my plans were already thrown out the window when I found out I would have to move to New York much sooner than I originally planned. My reaction, as always, was to panic. But then I remembered that I literally had just spent the majority of the night praying and singing that song, and God was already putting me to the test.
Alignment. A couple months ago I was trying to fly home from Delaware on standby. The Philadelphia airport was reporting full flights, so I headed into the city to catch a bus to DC and try to leave from a less busy airport. I bought tickets and timed everything to perfection, only to be told that my bus was delayed, which would not get me to the airport in time to catch the last flight home.
There was nothing I could do, so I went to a Panda Express down the road and ate some honey walnut shrimp. “Dear Lord Jesus,” I prayed, “please work a miracle and allow my bus to come early so that I can still make this flight and get home.”
Without missing a beat, God replied: “You’re asking for me to send the bus early and you aren’t even at the bus stop?”
With that simple question, He made a few things so abundantly clear:
Don’t ask for anything you are not prepared to receive.
Had he sent the bus when I prayed for it to come I would have missed it because I was not ready for the bus to come.
2. Be expectant that God is going to answer your prayers. I was praying for a miracle, but only half-heartedly. I was not fully expecting the bus to arrive earlier, otherwise I would not have left the bus stop.
3. Position yourself to receive what you’re asking for. Properly chastised by God, I jogged back to the bus stop just in time to be told that a different bus company was agreeing to pick us up since our bus was delayed.
Throughout that day, more chaos ensued, but it was a little easier to trust God in the midst of it because I was expectant that He would get me home okay. Fast forward to today. We have entered a brand new year and I am expectant that God is going to do some amazing things. So, I am positioning myself to receive them and preparing for what I am asking for.
Captured by Kalia Blake
What does that look like? I am spending more time with Jesus. Learning to build trust is essential to being able to surrender yourself to God’s plan for your life. How does anyone build trust in anyone? By spending time together and getting to know a person as trustworthy. I can say at this point in a life filled with many ups and downs and twists and turns, that I trust God.
“Breakthrough” was the last word I got for 2022. I am believing that this year I am going to see a breakthrough: creatively, financially and pretty much in every other way there is to receive a breakthrough. And because I am getting myself ready for it and committing to it I will see it come to pass.
Finally, the Bible verse that God led me to, that will encompass my 2022, is Micah 6:8:
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.
With plans to do exactly that, I know I’m in for a phenomenal year.
Courtesy of YouVersion Bible App
Shout out to Anna Hall for editing this article.
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