After the craziness of the past couple of years, I’m sure that you, like me, have wondered if God knows what he is doing. Let me assure you that God absolutely knows what He is doing…every moment of every day. Never have I been more sure of that than now.
Every fall, for about 10 years, I begin asking God what my #OneWord365 will be for the next year. Every year, He has been faithful to give me a word that He intends to work in and through me in the coming year. Here are my #OneWord365 words from past years, and several of them are linked to the blog post I wrote about them, in case you care to read them.
2012 – Trust
2013 – Jesus
2014 – God gave me 2 words – Loss and Others
2015 – Renew
2016 – Rest
2017 – Come
2018 – Christlikeness
2019 – Trust
2020 – Listen
2021 – Peace
This past year, God has done so much work in my life and heart that I feel like a major renovation has been done.
May I share with you a few of the things God has done in my heart in 2021?
GOOD-BYE ANXIETY – For many years I have dealt with anxiety and a bit of depression, for which I took medication. Over the past couple of years, God led me to two resources that have transformed my mind and helped me to ‘take every thought captive’ in order to have true peace. The first was a godly Christian counselor who helped me see clearly how God wired me when He created me and how to live and thrive in those strengths and through those weaknesses. I will be forever grateful for my counselor and friend. I also began using a mind management app that helped me learn to process my thoughts and feelings and take them captive rather than letting them run wild like an undisciplined child. I have more peace in my heart and mind than I have had in decades. Thank you, Jesus!
BAD HABITS – Hello, my name is Leah and I am a recovering unsolicited advice and opinion giver and a recovering judger. My dear husband has confronted me on this issue of giving unsolicited advice and/or opinion combined with a condescending ‘better-than-you’ attitude several times over the years, but it was not until this year when a family member angrily confronted me about something on which I had given an unsolicited opinion, that I was forced to really deal with what was an ugly, ugly life-long habit. I asked the Holy Spirit to show me to whom I needed to apologize, and then went to several people and did just that. Perhaps there are more people to whom I need to apologize, and if so, I pray God will reveal who they are to me. While coming to this realization and doing the necessary work was incredibly hard and painful, much peace has come out of it.
BOUNDARIES – As a coach, I often talk to my clients about boundaries. 2021 has been the year that God has talked to me about relationship boundaries. Just as you would not allow someone to come onto your property and begin digging and tearing down trees, neither should we allow toxic people into the yard of our hearts and homes. Not everyone who circles my life deserves access and entry into the life of my family and my heart. It is up to me to decide who is allowed into my ‘yard’. Setting a boundary for who has access to your heart and family is not mean or unloving, rather it is incredibly healthy and loving, and brings great peace.
DEEPER TRUST IN THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD – 2021 has brought many opportunities to trust in God’s sovereignty and that He knows what He is doing in what He allows to happen. I have been challenged to trust God as family and friends have received life-altering, incurable diagnoses. The work I do with my financial coaching clients requires that I trust God to speak through me as I guide them to financial peace. Making decisions concerning which Bible study to share with the precious ladies in the Wednesday morning Zoom Room is most definitely something that requires me to trust God’s wisdom and knowledge above my own.
These are just a few of the works God has done in my heart in 2021 through a focus on the word ‘peace’. As I look toward 2022, God has, once again, given me a word on which to focus. I have no idea why He has chosen this word, but I know, without a doubt, that He has plans to use it to mold me so that I look more like Jesus.
My word for 2022 is GATHER. I wait in eager expectation to hear from God about it.
If you choose a #OneWord, what is your word for 2022?
Blessings to you, friends.
SDG/FCA!
