Word Power

One of the things that I love is words. Putting words together gives us sentences and putting sentences together gives us paragraphs and putting paragraphs together gives us things to read! I am a book nerd and I claim it. There is power in words.

Every year I spend time searching and listening for God to give me my “word for the year.” I have done this for a couple of years now. Resolutions are not my thing as I fail enough as it is. Why would I want to set myself up for another one consciously? It never made sense to me. But, when I started to see people adopting words as their mantra for a year I thought that was something that I could do. It made more sense to me to pick a word and focus on that word for the year instead of a goal that would be dropped quickly within a few weeks. 

The first year I did this, God was showing me “Get Out of the Boat, Peter,” over and over, so sticking with the boat theme I decided my word would be ANCHOR. I was reading literature about how to let God be your anchor and how to anchor yourself to him. This word just settled in my soul and I knew that was to be my word for that year. I noticed that as I went through the year, that word would continue to come back into my mind. I would see it or understand it or apply it to things that would come across my path. I became more aware.

Another year, I used the word Beloved. That settled with me because it is what Amy means. I kept seeing that word and hearing that over and over. It helped me see that I was His beloved. 

Last year, I don’t know what my word was. I know I picked one as I always do, but 2023 was a tough one. I obviously should write these down. Last year proved that to me. It helped me see that even being intentional about a word won’t matter unless I truly practice working that word into my life. Maybe eventually I will remember what my word was and remember it. I hope if I do, I realize that it was more meaningful than it feels like at this point. Last year’s word was no different than a resolution that I break. 

But, this year, it’s different because I went through a process shared by one of my favorite evangelists. Bianca Olthoff hooked me back when I was living in Richmond. I’ve been following her and listening to her for years now. She can bring the word. When one hears her speak, they know that she has been gifted by God to do just that. I saw on IG that she was sharing how to come up with your word for the year. She has a podcast called “We’re Going There.” On IG she shared that she had created a special podcast just for helping you come up with your word for the year. 

I pulled up that podcast and listened to her steps and explanation of how she goes about finding her word for the year. I wrote down the steps because I didn’t want to forget the process. Her process is thought provoking and a way to look deeper at your journey with Jesus. I would recommend finding her podcast and listening to the whole session as she goes into great detail about how she does this, but here are her basic steps:

• Evaluate- what could I use more of in my life? What could I use less of in my life? What characteristics would I like to exemplify in my life? How do I want to feel at the end of the day?- She talks about feelings here and to make a list of blessings.

• Think-think about how you are feeling. Daily praying. Sit in silence. Visualize. What keeps coming to the top? Allow yourself to feel.

• Create a list. Make a list of words that have started to surface. What do you hear coming to the top?

• She gives you some possible words to explore next.

• Let God give you an image. Go deep on this one.

• Review all the words. Find the word that jumps out at you. Sometimes the word makes us uncomfortable which causes us to grow the most. Write down your word. Get God to confirm the word to you. If he said it He will do it. 

• Are you interested in the word or are you committed? Interested means it appeals to you, but committed means you are going to dig in and do the work. 

After I went through these steps, I found my word. It’s actually a word phrase this year. Two words that come together. Seek and Grow. 

If I Seek not just Him, but the things that I know he is pushing me to do, I will grow. Yes, first I must seek Him. But then, I must be willing to look for opportunities to push myself into uncomfortable places in order to grow. Those words are words that I can focus my life on right now. I become complacent and stagnant. When I become these things it is because I have not pushed myself to do what He wants for me to do. Most of the time I do this for two reasons. One, I am lazy. I like sitting in my recliner with a remote or book in my hand. It’s comfortable and I don’t have to work very hard to do this. I even sometimes claim that I am giving myself “self-care.” Two, I am afraid. It is easier to sit in the silence of my house than it is to step into the cacophony of life. The desires of my heart will not be met sitting in my recliner. 

This morning, I listened to a local church’s service online before I listened to my own church's service. The minister, Luke Davis, preached on 2 Peter. He went to the end of the chapter and used verses 17 and 18 from chapter 3. These verses say, “Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever! Amen!” (NIV version) 

Did you see it? I realized as soon as he read the verses that God was doing what Bianca talked about- confirmation. I’ve been getting it in several different ways over the last week. Either the word seek or the word grow have shown up for me. God used this sermon this morning to show me that I do need to seek and grow in 2024. 

Luke spoke about God calling us to grow to persevere. He said that God moves when people say yes to him. There is the seeking part. Seek things to say yes to and God will grow you. He talked about growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. He even talked about finding people that are good at loving people well and talk to them about how to grow better. 

Here it is. Another pecan that God has scattered for me to collect. I can see that becoming a seeker and understanding that what I seek with yield for me a whole crop of growth is a great pecan. Dig deep this month and try to discover your word. Tag me on IG or FB when you discover it. We will celebrate your pecan too!