One word....

For the past few years, instead of making a New Year's Resolution, I have instead chosen a "word" to focus on for that year. Each year has been different and I can't really explain why the words were chosen except that they seemed to "fit". 

The first year, my word was "Hope", the next year it was "Anticipation", and last year...well last year I cheated a little and chose two words - "Incredible Mercy." Each year, these words have proven to exemplify what I was going through that year and truly be what my year was all about. (Hmmm, makes me want to go back and look at all the pictures from this year and remind myself of just how merciful God has been to me this past year...but that's a blog for another day.)

This year however, as Christmas drew closer, I realized I had nothing. Seriously nothing. I looked forward into 2013 and felt nothing at all. Usually I am so excited about the new year, but this one seemed just blank. So, I prayed. You know, you have to be careful when you pray...God has a tendency to answer! Within a couple of days, I had my word. "Move."

I wondered if that could seriously be my word for 2013. I mean, it doesn't sound very spiritual; but the more I mulled over it, the more certain I became that it was my word for the year. At first, I thought of all the ways I could live out this word. Getting up and turning off the tv definitely came to mind. Taking the time to exercise each day was another option worth considering...but I knew this word had to have a spiritual side that I wasn't quite getting.

I did a search and these are a few of the verses that came up associated with that one simple word - move.

Isaiah 43:18-19
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” 

I love this verse! It was one I worked on memorizing last year on New Year's Day! While it doesn't say the word "move", it's all about moving!

Check out this one from Philippians:
Philippians 3:12-14
Pressing Toward the Goal
“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Finally, there's this one from Isaiah:
Isaiah 40:31 “but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

While all these verses are about moving forward, there was more. There was the feeling that it is time to move spiritually. Like God is setting the stage and now is the time to move.

Two of the more interesting verses about moving that I found were from Exodus 14:15-16 and they follow one of the most well known verses about NOT moving! 

Exodus 14:13-16
Moses spoke to the people: “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and watch God do his work of salvation for you today. Take a good look at the Egyptians today for you’re never going to see them again.

¹⁴ God will fight the battle for you.
    And you? You keep your mouths shut!”

^15-16 God said to Moses: “Why cry out to me? Speak to the Israelites. Order them to get moving. Hold your staff high and stretch your hand out over the sea: Split the sea! The Israelites will walk through the sea on dry ground.

I have a feeling that this will be a year of amazing things in God. I'm not sure what it will include...so far for me it looks like it will include a mission trip to Cambodia and Vietnam, perhaps a career change from classroom teacher to administration, and....and....and I have no idea what else! But I do know it will be an incredible adventure.

So...what will your "one word" for 2013 be? 

For help choosing your word, you can check out this site: http://myoneword.org/

On a much lighter note, to begin my year on "the right foot" and move, I am trying a one hundred day challenge to exercise each day for the next 100 days. I'm posting a picture on facebook to keep me "moving" in the right direction.

Wait for it....Wait for it....

Most of us HATE to wait. We want everything ASAP! Instant service, no waiting, serve me now! Very few of us think of waiting as a GOOD thing. But it can be....if it is waiting coupled with anticipation of what is to come!

There are a few of us still around who remember the ketchup commercial that used Carly Simon's song Anticipation as its theme song. "Anticipation. Anticipation. It's making me wait...." (I love another line in that song - these are the good old days...but that's for another blog.) The idea was that this ketchup was worth waiting for! It was just that GOOD!

As I mentioned in my last blog, I have such a strong feeling of anticipation about the coming year. This is very good news to me since looking back at last year's blog, I realized that at this time last year I felt a strong feeling of foreboding...that it would be a rough year. The word I chose to focus on for last year was hope and at times it was a choice, a very difficult choice, to hang on to that hope. This year feels very different. I am almost giddy with excitement of what is to come. I have no idea what it will be, but I know it will be GOOD! My anticipation, my expectation, is that God is about to do something wonderful and I'll get to see it!

There is a second part to that anticipation, however. It is "making me wait"....guess that's what anticipation is all about - waiting. But this waiting isn't a dread or a bore - it's filled with excitement of what is to come! This is like the days leading up to Christmas that are filled with preparation and joy, knowing that an expected celebration is near! It is hope plus a little bit more.

Somehow I came to the following verse in my morning Bible study: Lamentations 3:21-25 (By the way, I NEVER thought I'd find this kind of encouragement in a book called Lamentations, a word whose root means a passionate expression of grief!) Back to the verses: "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him". The New King James versions says the last part a little differently: "The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him." That word "wait" is qavah and according to Strong's it means "To wait for, look for, expect, hope." It is the root of the noun tiqvah, "hope" or "expectancy". Qavah expresses the idea of "waiting hopefully." For me, it is as if the "hope" I had last year, sometimes simply as an act of faith that seemed to take everything within me to hold on to, has now been coupled with joy!

The season of waiting and, to be quite honest, sometimes wondering would God really come through for me, has been replaced with the excitement of knowing He will. Now instead of just sitting and hoping, I'm ready to take that hope and RUN with it!

I do not know what your 2010 was like. Perhaps you too have had a season of holding on to hope by the tips of your fingers, wondering if you could really hang on. If so, then I boldly declare the Word of the Lord to you. "
"Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands." Isaiah 43:18 - 19

Wait for it...wait for it....don't give up hope! Now this is waiting that I can do!

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