One Word…It’s Not a Resolution!

I have been on a journey with words for quite a few years now.  It all began in 2008.  The hubs and I were ministering in a church in Washington D.C. We had just gone through the second traumatic brain incident with our son, Brad. The first being a stroke when he was 13 and now this one, which was just as if he had had another massive stroke. This second event had begun the summer of 2007, shortly after we had moved to D.C. for our new ministry. We were in the hospital(s) with Brad from July to October of that year followed with many months of Physical, Speech, and Occupational Rehabilitation.

I had just begun to get back into a routine of work, ministry, and lots of trips to the rehab hospital with Brad for his ongoing therapies, when I wrote these words in my journal on February 3, 2008:

Write.Write...Write!  This one word has been playing over and over to me now for weeks now, maybe even months.  Almost audibly I hear the word. I believe God is telling me to write. I have shared this with Rod, Lyndsay, and my ladies bible study. Now I feel accountable, but I still don't know WHAT I am supposed to write.

 That was the million dollar question. What am I supposed to write??? 

 Journal entry, January 7, 2012:

We are a week into the new year and I have been thinking about a word for the year ahead...a word from God. So far several words have come to mind, even the thought 'follow through' keeps coming back to me as I seem to be failing miserably in that area; most especially in the area of my writing. I still believe the word 'write' came to me from God years ago. I still have not fully explored that word. Another word that keeps popping up is 'obedience'. This just may be my word for 2012. ??? I want to wait for confirmation. I have been reading Debbie Macomber's book, One Perfect Word, and she is talking about her experience in choosing(or rather God choosing for her) one word to focus on each year. It has really made me think that God has led me to her book so that I would have a better understanding of why He is giving me a word for the year.

I waited and prayed the next few days about this whole One Perfect Word thing. I waited and listened and then I wrote this...

Journal entry, January 11, 2012:

When I stepped out of the shower yesterday morning one word came clearly to mind that seemed to encompass all of the other words that had been floating around in my head. DISCIPLINE. Of course all of those words could be summed up in the one word...focus, follow-through, obedience, and write...all of these things take DISCIPLINE! Later in the day as I was talking to God (out loud) in the car, I found I couldn't speak the word without being deeply moved to tears. Later that evening I found myself sharing with Rod about how God has been working with me for several years now giving me one word that keeps coming up over and over and how reading Debbie Macomber's book had now given me more direction on how to focus on that word for the year... how to glean from it all God wants to show me and how He wants to grow me.  I found that as I spoke the word discipline aloud again, tears sprang to my eyes. I knew this was confirmation that this was the word.

 Well...God has brought me a long way from that day in February of 2008. I have been a contributing writer in two books which are due to be published later this year. This may seem small potatoes to some, but I am still amazed at how God has brought all of this about and that He has enabled me to sit and write long enough to finish an entire chapter for one of those writing projects! I  also began this blog on October 2, 2008 in  response to that one word from God to write. I have hopes that it will be an encouragement to many others.  

I have a new word for this year...yep, you guessed it. NURTURE. I created the pic at the top of this post from one of my backyard bird photos. I think if you click on the word you can get a better look at the words on the picture. It's a bit small here.  After creating this graphic I challenged other women in my small sphere of influence to take the challenge to find the One Perfect Word, as Debbie calls it.   I began creating one word pics for friends who are doing the One Perfect Word challenge for 2013. I want to share with you all the paths that God has been leading me down as I do research on each word that I have worked on for others, so as I add the photos and the short posts about them, I will link them all back to the page, One Word Challenge. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I enjoy the creation process!
Here is the challenge I laid out for them:

Instead of a New Year's resolution, just pick one word (with prayer and the help of the Holy Spirit), for 2013. This one word will be your personal word for the year...dwell on it....meditate on it....work on it...by the end of the year let us know how it has become a part of your life. Here is the link to Debbie Macomber's video on One Perfect Word... Just click on it to watch Debbie's challenge...One Perfect Word . 

You can also check out her book here...Debbie's Book 

I will also be posting about the word that God has led me to for 2013...Nurture.  Already I find that I am learning to focus in on the word and have an open heart to receive all that God has in store for me in 2013.

Oh...and I'm still working those two words...discipline and write! I have a feeling those words will stay with me for a long, long time.

 
What about you?  Have you taken the One Word 2013 Challenge?  I would love to hear about it!