The year 2022 finished my first decade of having a word for the year. I really do pray about them and ask for God's leading to the word he wants me to focus on each year. They're not always a word I would choose, but in hindsight, the word I've been given has truly fit with the circumstances of my year. Here are the words God has given me over the last decade:
2013-Trust (While trying to finally complete Juan's adoption successfully.)
2014-Live (Learning to embrace life with a new son)
2015-Give (Wanting to give back or pay it forward for all that had been given to us through Juan's 5 year adoption process)
2016-Joy (Spelled GRATITUDE)
2017-Focus (Pulled back from everything but the essential to give God room to be God)
2018-Cherish (So many precious, priceless memories to hold close to my heart)
2019-Shine (Spending time with Jesus should make his love shine through us)
2020-Release (Let go of expectations and experience God in new ways)
2021-Receive (After releasing my expectations, I was in a better position to receive new blessings)
2022-Peace (Life may get hectic, complicated, and uncomfortable, but Peace is a Person who is always there.)
This year started out complicated, lonely, and sad. I desperately needed peace. I tried to create it in my environment by eliminating clutter (or at least trying), lighting candles to create a calm atmosphere and a pleasant aroma, creating a small coffee bar that gave a cozy welcome as soon as I walked in the front door, setting up pretty plants and decorations on both my front and back porch to have a nice place to retreat whenever needed, playing calm music with a fireplace heater to bring a warm, comforting mood, etc.
But God gently reminded me that peace is not circumstantial or environmental. Peace is a Person. No matter what the environment looks or feels like, no matter what is happening in our lives or around us, as long as we focus on Christ's presence, we can find Peace.
If I thought life was complicated, hectic, and lonely on January 1st this year with Mike and David in Indiana for 3 weeks tending to a house that needed major clean up, a mom healing from a major surgery, a father's funeral, and a grieving widow, while Juan isolated himself in his room back here in Texas, and I cared for him through a closed door and quarantined myself from anyone else, it sure did get even more complicated, hectic, and lonely as the year went on.
Complicated from all the challenges you read about two posts ago.
Hectic in trying to move and then never settle. (Not yet, anyway).
Lonely in trying to follow a call to ministry that only few can understand, a call that meant hurting those closest to you by moving away from them. I definitely kept a lot of thoughts and emotions buried inside this year.
Here is the link to my post about my word on January 1st of this year.
Just like any other of the words God gave me over the last decade, He knew the year that awaited me and knew that I needed to keep my focus on His constant presence. I'm so thankful for the word He gave me, just another way to remind me that He's always ahead of me, always guiding me and looking out for me.
Jehovah Shalom--The Lord is Peace.
Stay tuned for the word I believe God has given me for 2023.
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