Another Year Another One Word

 


I was thinking to myself on January 2, 2017 that this past year has been hard for me and I feel that it has been hard for many other people.  I lost a couple of people I cared about for the first time and both of them were my relatives.  I’ve seen on the news about so many celebrities passing away as well as so much terror and destruction happening in the world.  With all that and my own problems I found it hard to look at the positives in life.

My one word for 2016 was ‘Rejoice.’  When I came to that word from God at the end of the previous year I didn’t think that everything would be wonderful.  I felt I needed to rejoice in all that came up in my life.  Honestly, I didn’t do a very good job at that.  I started off in the new year feeling pumped and ready to look at things positively.  I had a new job lined up and thought things would be alright, but then my Nanny passed away and my job didn’t work out and I ended up feeling depressed again.

I quickly forgot my word rejoice as the months went by.  I remembered it every so often; for example, when we received a new car I felt so blessed that it came not long after our car had stop working.  I felt like everything was looking up, but then I started to feel down again about my life.  I felt that I was a disappointment and had let myself down by not rejoicing during the hard times.

It wasn’t until recently that my husband helped me realize that I may not have been rejoicing when hard things came up, but that I was rejoicing in the day to day things.  I realize he was right as I rejoiced daily for my husband as I love him so much and really appreciated him.  I also rejoiced quite often about where we lived and how great our place is.  I decided that with five days left of the year, I would intentionally rejoice in whatever came up during that time.

On the previous Wednesday, I was making yam fries while my hubby was taking the recycling out when I heard from God again about what my one word would be for 2017.  I had thought about Conqueror, but remembered I had used that word two years ago, so I continued to think and listen when I heard the word Warrior.  I knew right away that this was my one word for the coming year.

When my hubby came back I told him my word would be Warrior and he completely agreed that was the word for me.  I knew it was from God and not me because it completely changed how I felt about myself.  My posture completely changed and I stood straight up instead of slouched.  I normally saw myself as a weak and defenseless little girl.  I felt like I could never do anything right.  With the word Warrior, I saw myself as a fighter; as someone that didn’t let things get her down. 

It opened my eyes as to how I’ve been acting as well as how I’ve been treating myself.  I should admit, I’ve been having the ‘poor me’ syndrome for way too long.  I may have reason to feel this way, but it’s only kept me in the victim mentality instead of the victor mentality.  I felt sorry for myself and couldn’t get past my pain and hurt from before.  I focused on myself whenever something went wrong, as I felt it was always my fault.

I have been fighting against myself my whole life and I’ve just realized that why do I need to fight against myself when I can fight for myself?  When I fight for myself I can also fight for others and be the warrior that God knows that I can be.   It truly amazed me how one word could transform me so much.  I can honestly say that I am excited for 2017.  I think God brought this word to me just before the new year so that I could be encouraged.

I know it will be easy for me to have my old behaviours come back in, but this year I’m going to fight my hardest to break those destructive strongholds in my life.  I don’t imagine life is going to get any easier for myself or for others this year.  I hope you know that there is a warrior in each of us, you just have to fight to bring that side out of you.  God put that there to help you see that there is still hope.

Patricia <3 J

1 Timothy 6:12    Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

 

Here’s a song about being not afraid or not being along and be not ashamed, as our Lord is bringing us home.  Remember that He is strong enough to save us and Himself.

 

“Be Not Afraid” by Lost and Found

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1XFdFb1FyQ&list=PL3whQX319DaB37iB8NZpJe206iSdpe3kc&index=168

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