Lose the List & Pick a Word

Tis that time of year where we reflect upon the current year and look ahead towards the coming year. We look at the things we've accomplished, the happy moments, the hard times that continued to mold and shape us...and we look at the upcoming year with anticipation and hope.

For me, 2015 was a year of some of the things I love best:
Crossfit. Yoga. Travel. Dance. Fellowship and Faith with Friends.

As I look forward to 2016, I have a heart of anticipation and wonder at what God will call me to do, what doors He will open, and what He will bring me through. (John 14:1 Don't let your heart be troubled, trust in God). 

Although my 2015 was full of highlights there were low points. There were hard things to walk through, friendships I had to let go, peoples loved ones who passed away, unanswered questions, fights, angry tongues that flew, disappointments and failures. I made goals and promises that I didn't keep (to myself and others) but I survived it, made it through and here I stand at the end of 2015. I promise you we all will face troubles and hardships in 2016... that is hopefully not a shock to any of you; but what can we do to ensure that God can use us for His best in 2015? What can we do today to ensure that one-year-from-now, we can recall on 2016 and be like "Wow, God was in that. He was in that mess. He was in that victory. He really has shown me...."? 

I think it starts with a simple list: throw out that list and pick a word.

Lose the list of resolutions we shove to the back of our mind come late winter. Yeah we all want to be happier, be healthier, lose weight, spend more time with friends and family, quit a bad habit, learn a new hobby, save more, spend less, travel, get organized, be less stressed, live life to the fullest, stop procrastinating, declutter and spend less time on social media. Sound like a familiar list? Yeah. I used to have a few of those items dashed across the imaginary paper in my head of 'New Years Resolutions'. How many of those 'came true'? Well if I had to write a list today, I'd say a lot of those would still appear on my list which makes me ask- Are these even obtainable goals? Are they quantifiable? Eh. Instead of getting stuck in the cycle of list making and resolution breaking, several years ago I started doing something different. I threw out the list and picked a word.

Pastor Mike Ashcraft, the pastor of the church I attended in college Port City Community in Wilmington North Carolina, would always preach a sermon at the end of the year about MY ONE WORD. A few years later he took his sermons, thoughts and prayers and published the book, My One Word. To put it briefly, Pastor says instead of focusing on this list of things you may or may not be able to obtain, pick one word to inspire you throughout the year. "Choose just one word that represents what you most hope God will do in you, and focus on it for an entire year". 

Great- sounds good but how do you pick just one word? Pastor Ashcraft has some simple steps to help you narrow down a couple million word choices to just one. Ask yourself, what kind of person do you want to become this year? Identify the characteristics and qualities of that person. Is that person slow to anger? Is that person outspoken? Is that person generous? This should help get your mind flowing on qualities, characteristics and words that can help inspire you in 2016. Check out the website for some great jumping off points:
Patience
Joy
Focused
Disciplined
Trust
Surrender
Growth
Courage
Fearless
Simplify
Healthy
Restore

Chose your word. Write it down. Focus on that word. How can you apply it to your daily life? What do you want to see at the end of the year? I had a friend who chose the word 'carefree' one year because she was always worrying and stressing. So on a notecard she wrote the word CAREFREE on one side and a Bible verse she could read when she found her mind wondering down the road of distress. In the end she had to tape notecards in the kitchen, her bathroom, the car, her office.... and she worked at it for a whole year. Not saying it was like snap-your-fingers-everythings-perfect, but she really did become stronger in her faith by trusting God with the little things and when she was stressed or anxious she could turn to God for comfort. 

So who do you want to become in 2016? What qualities or characteristics do you want to grow or bolster in this next year? Pray about it! Ask God what He wants to show you. Open your heart because you'd be amazed at what God will do if you only let Him. 

Happy 2015 and a Blessed 2016 Everybody! 

Ordinary to Extraordinary

It has been a while since I've actually finished a post and actually published it- a sad thing considering I used to love writing and blogging. In the past four months my work life went from busy to chaos. I would leave work, hit the gym, come home and be so emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted I couldn't even find the motivation to open my laptop or look at a screen for one second longer. As the days turned into weeks and weeks into months, my life turned into a draining monotony of busyness.

Recently a few things have around me that make me realize how incredibly unpredictable life can be; things can change so drastically that it made me stop and ask myself it what I was doing was worth it? No.

A woman at work had an honest conversation with me, about how short life can be and how we need to forget about the fear of the future and the unknown and find joy in the moments we have with those we love. It's pivotal that we choose joy, find joy and pursue the dreams we dream about only to ourselves.

When I get busy, one of the first things to suffer is my quiet time reading the Word. Ironically, the Word is one of the most important things we can stay in to keep grounded,  rooted in His promises and cling onto the hope that He promises us. Deciding to take 5 to 10 minutes of your day to spend with Him and reading the Word can really set the tone for the rest of it. Life gets messy, busy, chaotic, and plain stressful but by rooting ourselves in those few blissful moments of quiet, peace and joy it can really turn your day around and make an ordinary day into an extraordinary day. So I choose to find the time, to make the commitment and to make completely ordinary days into fantastically extraordinary days.

"A busy life makes prayer harder, but prayer makes a busy life easier"

Stop & Be Still

"The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all." Psalm 34:19 

How easy is it to get overwhelmed and stressed out in everyday life? Little things suddenly add up and before you know it- boom- your plate has exploded. Getting to work on time, working out, packing a lunch, balancing the checkbook, paying bills on time, trying to figure out dinner, walking the dog, laundry, ironing, filing the car with gas...I know I don't need to go on because everyone goes through the endless checklist in their head on a daily basis.
  
However, although it's so easy to get caught up in the day to day monotony, it's important to remember who is in control. When life feels like it is spiraling out of control, it is so difficult to maintain order, maintain a gracious heart and keep a positive spirit. It would take every once of my being to maintain a graceful spirit when my life is falling apart, and that is why I constantly need God's Holy Spirit to renew my heart and cleanse my spirit. Don't stress about getting it all done.

I was reminded recently how busy everybody is, but someone asked if we were too busy for the Lord. How many times do we delay quiet time because we need to finish something at night, or skip church because we want a day to sleep in? I've found myself many times skipping out on reading the Word at night because I was so exhausted from a long day at work or not go to church because Sunday is my only day to sleep in. It was highlighted to me recently that when we listen to God and give him what he wants: our heart and our attention, he blesses us beyond our dreams. When we tithe, when we spend time praying, when we spend time in the Word, when we sit and listen and when we just sit in silence God uses those moments to mold, shape and change our lives.

Stop. Be Still.