Last year, for the first time ever, I chose a word focus for the year. Several things in my life felt out of control and my anxiety was at an all time time. I chose the word “trust”. Or maybe it chose me. I knew I needed to learn to more functionally trust the God of the Universe with my stuff.
I chose 7 Bible verses on trust (one for each day of the week) to focus on and memorize. Much prayer followed. I read books on trust. Praise music on the greatness of God blasted from my speakers. Everything I faced in 2021 brought me into deeper relationship with God. I learned to feel my feelings instead of escape from them. For this I am grateful.
Did I Trust?
I wish I could say that my anxiety disappeared, but that would be a bald faced lie. I wish I didn’t have to admit that – if anything – it escalated. Some of the situations I struggled to place in God’s hands got worse. And at the end of the year, my husband was diagnosed with cancer. This is life in a broken world – even when you walk it with a good, good Father. (I’m typing this from the surgery waiting room as I wait for my husband.)
My continued fear and anxiety have much more to do with me being a fallen human than they do with with the delivering power of my God. Of this I am VERY aware. And yet I know I have gained much from this focus for prayer and study. So I definitely wanted to choose a word again this year. I wrestled for several weeks with whether I should use TRUST again! I didn’t learn my lesson after all. But is that really the takeaway from this kind of practice?
Rest, Lauren
I started reading a book I was supposed to read months ago as a part of an unofficial launch team. Oops. Or was it? God used Rest Girl: A Journey from Exhausted and Stressed to Entirely Blessed by Jami Amerine to bring me my new word. REST. What could possibly be a better expression of trust than resting in His care? They go hand in hand. And isn’t God kind to continue to teach me to rely on him without me having to repeat a grade?
After more study and prayer, I chose Matthew 11:29 as my guiding verse for the year: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” And God is guiding me to additional verses for meditation and memorization. (Exodus 14:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:24 and Exodus 33:14 so far).
As I continue to pray and meditate on scripture and work through Jami Amerine’s book, I’m excited for the year ahead. Through every challenge I know God holds me and my family close. He is so faithful.
What About You?
I would love to continue this conversation. If you chose a word for the year, leave it in the comments below (and if it’s not too personal, tell us why you chose it). If not, give me a favorite verse on the subject of resting in God. And I would love your prayers as I learn to give it all to the only one big enough to hold it.
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Rest seems so easy, to be relaxing even, and yet, it doesn’t come easily at times. May rest come to your heart and mind as you trust God in all things. Your two words seem to dovetail showing me how perfectly God weaves all the details of our lives.
My word this year is “Wait” – “Lead me to Your truth and teach me, For you are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.” (Psalm 25:5, NASB) My desire is that He will lead me and teach me His Truth in greater depth and power as I wait on Him this year.
Thank you for sharing your word. I think it’s one we could all use some tutelage in.
I have never had a “Word of the Year” before, but this year I decided to because I love the word that my church chose and I made it my word too. The word is “Stand”. I think 2022 will be a difficult year for believers and we need to “Stand” for righteousness, stand for what we believe in, stand with our eyes focused on Christ, etc. And I know you don’t want DIY links on your party, and what I included is DIY but it’s also a story of my grandson and how he is learning about the Bible through creative play, that’s why I included it. It is “christian living” to me, but if it’s not to you, feel free to delete it. Thanks for the party. I’m sorry to hear about your husband. I can only imagine how scary that would be. I will add him to my prayer list.
I love the word “Stand” and I love kids learning about the Bible in fun and interesting ways! Thank you so much for your prayers, Amy. They mean a lot.
I think of anxiety as one of those things that we won’t conquer in the sense of never experiencing it again, but as we develop our trust in the Lord, we learn how to turn each new (and old) anxiety over to Him–even if we have to do so several times in the same hour.
So far, I have not felt led to choose a word for the year. I’ve felt that being in the Word every day, God will give me what I need for that day. But I have enjoyed testimonies of how God has used people’s words for the year in their lives.
My favorite verse about rest, other than Matthew 11:29, is Isaiah 30:15: “For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.’” The last bit of the verse to Israel says, “But you were unwilling.” By God’s grace, may we always be willing.
And that verse often brings to mind the hymn, “Jesus, I Am Resting, Resting.” The third verse might be my favorite:
Simply trusting thee, Lord Jesus,
I behold thee as thou art,
and thy love, so pure, so changeless,
satisfies my heart;
satisfies its deepest longings,
meets, supplies its ev’ry need,
compasseth me round with blessings:
thine is love indeed.
Jesus, I am resting, resting,
in the joy of what thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
of thy loving heart.
Praying for your husband’s surgery and recovery, and for you as well.
Thank you so much for sharing that verse and the hymn.
Lauren, I love both words, “Trust” and “Rest” and believe God will increase your capacity for trusting Him as you learn deeper rest in Him. Having a word focus doesn’t always ensure we nail every aspect of it, (thankfully, as my 2022 word is resilience) but it does help us grow closer to Him as we spend time seeking Him through it!
Agreed, Donna. Thank you.
This is the 3rd year that I (God) have chosen a word of the year. I’m excited to see what God does with ENCOURAGEMENT!
Me too! Keep us posted.
I haven’t found my word for the year yet but I loved reading about your journey.
Love you, ston.
Trust and rest are deep abiding words, Lauren. My word this year is intentional. My main verse is, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8 NASB)
May the Lord give you and your husband grace, strength and wisdom as you walk this journey of healing from cancer.
Trust and rest are deep abiding words, Lauren. My word this year is intentional. My main verse is, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8 NASB)
May the Lord give you and your husband grace, strength and wisdom as you walk this journey of healing from cancer.
Love that word and scripture focus. And thank you for the prayers.
I’m praying over you right now, friend. And I’m so thankful for the way you are using the hard parts of your story to minister to us. Thank you! I’ve picked a word of the year for the past few years but not yet this year! I think it’s time to pray it through! Hugs to you!
Thank you so much for your prayers, Stacey. They mean so much.
I believe God chooses the word for us that He knows is going to bring us His peace, His comfort, and His restoring rest for our minds and souls. May you journey be deep with Him this year, bringing you more understanding of what it means to rest in Him! My word is Intentional this year.
You are the second person who has told me that their word is intentional! Maybe God has something for me here as well!
These two sentences were so good: “I learned to feel my feelings instead of escape from them;” and “My continued fear and anxiety have much more to do with me being a fallen human than they do with with the delivering power of my God” – so much truth in them! Last year was The Year of Redeeming Prayer. The year before was The Year of Selfless Prayer – and I feel like this is The Year of Pressing-In Prayer – when God nudged me about our new class (because that’s what I’ve come to feel I’m enrolled in – is an individually designed class between the two of us), for a second, I was disappointed because it wasn’t something new – but then I realized it will be something new! Grace and Peace, Lauren, in your God-Mentored class of Rest!
Pressing in prayer. I like that a lot!
Lauren I was saddened to read your dear hubby has a diagnosis of cancer. Praying for him now…Amen.
That brings me to my words/theme for this year. As you may know it’s “Ask with intent”. Which is a continuation of last year’s word Prayer.
I’m excited to see what God will continue to reveal.
Bless you,
Jennifer
Thank you for your prayers. And I look forward to what you reveal about your prayer journey.
Lauren, I’m not religious, but I hope with all my heart for your husband’s complete recovery. I think anxiety under the circumstances is only human. I know you feel that you missed the mark with the word, trust, but consider that you may have felt far worse without this word upon which to focus.
Michelle
https://mybijoulifeonline.com
That is an interesting way to look at it, Michelle. Thank you for contributing your thoughts.
I hope you get the rest you need in 2022. I’ve never been able to settle on one word as a focus for an entire year. But your description of the process is intriguing. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Thank you for reading along with my journey, Carol.
I’m so sorry to hear about your husband’s cancer. 🙁 We never know what’s around the corner, but I’m glad that you had already been working on “trust” as your foundation. Hope was my One Word for 2019. I didn’t feel I finished it, and then 2020 hit. I didn’t feel shored up enough on hope, but at least I had more than I would have had. Praying for your strength to rest! It can be difficult to do. But so important.
Thank you, my friend.
I’m going to feature your post tomorrow on my blog for our linkup.
Thank you, friend. I so appreciate it. I need to come link it up on your one word link up.
This made me think about the purpose of our One Word. (It’s my first time joining in, and I confess I didn’t have a clear idea of what would be involved, so I’m figuring it out as I go.) Mine is CONNECT, and I know I chose it because I want to connect more. So if I don’t achieve that during the year, I could see that as a failure. However, I can also imagine that my resistance to connection and recurrent need to disconnect might come up all the more strongly just because of the focus on that word. Maybe I can see the purpose of this year as exploring the meaning of my word, which can include its opposite.
When you learned about ways it was difficult for you to trust, it was also a deep exploration of trust. We can’t really know things unless we go beneath the surface, and it seems you had an experience of that. Even one year is not enough to go the lengths of such a huge topic (trust is the essence of our faith, an endurance test, and not a quick fix). I think you found a wonderful word in “rest” to take you further, and I hope that it brings you great blessings in a challenging time. Thank you for your honest sharing.
The purpose for me is always to grow closer to God. And I have definitely done that. That always means success to me.
Prayers for your family Lauren and your husband’s recovery.
Your prayers mean so much, Joanne. Thank you.
I have chosen words around completion and getting it done for the past two years. I selected supporting scriptures as well. In my perspective, I didn’t get it done. Not the it I was striving for anyway. I chose not to have a guiding word this year. Just take one day at a time following God’s lead. My favorite verse on rest is “There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.” Job 3:17. I realize this verse is referencing after this life when we are in the grave. Yet it gives me comfort that even the worst experiences will end. There will be true rest for the weary.
I always choose verses to go with my word. And I haven’t come across this one yet. I can’t wait to dig into it. Thank you for sharing, Calvonia.