Do You Have One Word (It’s Ok if you don’t)?

Do you have one word for 2019? If you do, did you choose it or did God give it?

I am curious and awe-inspired every time I read about someone’s annual experience.

The only time I received a clear, one word from God was during a trial when my husband had multiple complications from surgery. I was not seeking a word from Him. In fact, I was a hot mess.

Scattered prayers mixed with desperate pleas thrown toward Heaven.

Surrender.

The word came to life as I read it, as if in my mind I was reading aloud.  Surrender in bold came through in high volume.

A profound lesson awaited me. A draw to His cross to unload the weight I willfully carried … the indignant why’s, the fears of the unknown.

It’s not so much the letters that spell surrender. Rather, it’s the powerful sweetness in moving ever toward my Lord and Savior. Once secure in His arms, I almost forgot the word that season.

 

So, is it the word … or is it the Word?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).

Our God is a personal God who desires a relationship with each of His children. This post is to reassure all of you who may not receive a word in the new year, even if you pray.

God will not leave you out. Rather, He has another way planned to teach you, to order your steps in this new year.

In Peter Enns’ The Sin of Certainty, he unpacks the world’s definition of faith which overlaps with man-made science to give us the illusion we as Christians shall be forever certain of His ways.

Even though that may sound ridiculous to some of you, I admit the enemy in the past used such worldliness to convince me I must share the things I know about God. Can you sense where this will lead you … to step up on a morality soapbox that repels seekers rather than draws them. Not to mention, that same enemy led me to feel less than when I saw countless others on social media who received that one word.

I commend Peter Enns for his honesty and hard work in putting together a book which opens our hearts to the One who knows all things, who created all things, whose plans and ways are much higher than we can ever imagine:

“Developing a culture of trust rather than preoccupation with certainty means discerning, articulating, and embodying the heart and soul of the Christian tradition, which also – and just as passionately- remaining open to the movement of God’s Spirit which ‘blows where it chooses and you hear the sound of it, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes’(John 3:8)” (page 210).

In effect, he tells us to place trust in Him over being right about Him. To believe in the vast power of Our Creator and prepare our souls to delve deep where He leads. And perhaps most importantly, be open to changing direction mid-step as Spirit guides.

Join me in this prayer:

Dear Mighty Sovereign God,
Today, we are in awe of Your mystery, God. For no matter how much we learn about You, there is ever more that remains mystery. We praise You for You are Good and are for us, not against us.
Lord, we ask if it is Your will, to show us one word for 2019.
Lord, we ask if it is not Your will to show us one word, we ask You to reveal what You determine as our next step.
Lord, we thank You for creating each of us so uniquely, that You know the numbers of hairs on our bodies, and You know our innermost heart’s desires to please You.
In surrender and deep honor for Your Son Jesus we pray,
Amen

~~~

I would love it if you shared your thoughts about this post, or your word 🙂

All photos in this post are from Pixabay.com.

You can start a conversation here in the comments or email me privately at juliedibblespeaks@gmail.com

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https://faithhopeandpoetry.blog

Enjoy this day of beauty and mystery.

In Christ,

Julie