My Word for 2019

Y’all. I cannot believe it’s already 2019. If I allow myself to think about it too much, I will get a little panicky. Brienne graduates from high school in a mere two years! How is that possible??

So right now, I’m not allowing myself to go down that road. Instead, I’m going to talk to you about my vision for the upcoming year.

I always try to pick a word and scripture for each new year. It’s something I’ve done for several years now and I love seeing how God moves and uses those words to fulfill something in me. If you’re thinking about doing this for yourself, you can get some ideas by reading my scripture posts from 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Last year, my theme was that Jesus is enough. My goal was to love Jesus more, and my scripture came from Lamentations 3:24:

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore, I have hope in Him.”

I re-read part of my post from last year in reflection and came across this:

If I’m being transparent, I was a little fearful to claim this verse for our family this year. In my head, I do want Jesus to be my everything, but what will I have to lose to make this happen? 

It’s true, I did lose things this past year. For one, I “lost” our worship leader who left to serve at another church. I also changed jobs, which was a huge loss because I loved the people I worked with at my previous school.

I miss my worship leader. I miss my co-workers. I miss the students I worked with last year.

But the Lord has been so faithful. I have a new job with co-workers who are helpful and kind. And God has been kind to me as well, assuring me that He has good plans for our church as we wait for a new worship leader.

I’m grateful that I can look back and see God’s faithfulness to me this past year.

As I look in anticipation to 2019 and all that it holds, my mind keeps hanging onto one word that I just can’t seem to get out of my head.

Wonder

I think this is my word for the year. But what does it mean for me in this season?

Luke 5:26 (NLT) says this:

“Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, ‘We have seen remarkable things today.'”

I feel sure that every year can be a year filled with wonder if we are looking for it. But so often, we trudge through life with our head down, just trying to get through another day, and we forget to look up in awe at our Father who loves us. We forget to look around and see what He’s doing in our midst.

So this year, I want to look up. I don’t want to miss what God is doing around me. And I know that He is going to do some big things this year.

I’m trusting the Lord in so many areas of my life right now. Areas where I feel out of control.

I’m leaning on Him as I sometimes flounder in this parenting gig.

I’m trusting Him to free Brienne from fear and to help Jonah with self-control.

I’m trusting Him to instill kindness in Vivienne and to give me and Peter a flourishing marriage.

I’m praying for revival in our church as we wait… and wait… and wait… for a worship leader.

I’m trusting Him in our adoption process, hopeful that He will allow us to bring a child home in 2019.

I’m trusting Him this year with anticipation that He will do a mighty work.

In the words of Luke, I want to be “gripped with great wonder and awe,” and I want to exclaim, “We have seen remarkable things today!”

What is your word or verse for 2019? I would love to hear it!