Every year at the turn of the New Year, people tend to reflect on the old and make resolutions for the New year coming. Goals they want to see accomplished, and things they want to see happen. The last few years, I have strayed from making New Year Resolutions – and rather ask the Lord to give me a word for the New Year. What should be my focus for the coming year? What is it that you want me to turn my attention to, what should be sure to make time for?
The last few years, all of my words have been about letting go, yielding, surrendering, submitting, making time and space for Him. God must have really been trying His best to get me to truly surrender to Him, to His Ways, to His life for me. To stop doing things my way, and really listen to Him and seek Him in all things. – I still don’t think I am there 100%- it’s always a battle with our flesh, but I can definitely tell a difference in myself from the past few years. 2022 has definitely been a year of surrender though, and of letting go. Letting go of things in the natural; (I don’t think you realize how much you accumulate through 13 years of marriage, and 43 years of life, until you really start trying to get rid of it all), but also getting rid of junk- trauma, emotional baggage, and past hurts. I’ve done my best to allow the Lord to work His healing over my body, mind and spirit. I know I haven’t seen a complete manifestation of this yet in my natural body, but that is coming. In my mind and my heart, I am free. Finally free. Now I know there will probably always be stuff the Lord brings up that I need to deal with, that is just a result of man’s fallen nature, and as humans, we are always work in progress. I also know that I still have some letting go to do in the natural world. However, I am so grateful for the work I have done this past year or two, and for the realization that I now that I have tools in my arsenal to overcome anything that gets thrown my way.
For 2023, my word is Discovery. God is taking me into a season of discovery, both of Him, and of who I am truly free. It will be a discovery of who and what He wants me to be, of learning who I am in Him, free from pain, free from bondage, from those things that once restricted my movement in Him. I learned a long time ago that I was good enough, that He saw me as good enough, but I never saw myself as whole. I still saw myself with scars and wounds. I was good enough, but I still had blemishes. Now I will learn what it looks like to walk in wholeness, unblemished, free in Him. I will learn what it feels like to live not as just a daughter of the King, but His Bride.
Not only is it a discovery of a new me, but it is also a discovery of Him in a completely new facet. He has already been teaching me to yield to Him and to listen to Him in every step, but soon, Billy and I will take a step into the unknown, and we will truly have to put that into action. No longer will we have physical jobs that will support us, or knowledge (completely anyway) of what our tomorrows will look like. Anyone that knows me knows how excited I am about our move to England. I’ve been talking about it for years! But what you may not know, is I am even more excited about being able to blindly trust God for everything. I am excited to be able to watch Him work. I know there are going to be so many God stories! I could pinch myself some days just knowing this is the life He chose for me. I get to have a front row seat to seeing God forever change lives and the miraculous in action. I know that you don’t have to quit your job and move halfway around the world in order to really live like that, but I know that is what He has called us to do. I am ready to live life in full abandon for His call. I am excited and anxious for this season of discovery and newness He is taking me into.
What is your word for 2023? What is He asking you to focus on this year? What are the steps that you can take to get closer to reaching that goal? It’s the beginning of a fresh new year. It can be a new start for you in your walk with Christ, whether for the first time, or the 100th time. He is always waiting for you to tune your attention to Him. He is always there waiting for us to allow Him to complete His perfect work in us. Now is the perfect time to spend some time with Him figuring out what your next step might be.
