My One Word for 2019

I know, I know.  I’m late with this post.  I mean, it’s the middle of January.

But I’m choosing to post this thing “late” instead of not at all.  This is progress for the perfectionist in me.

Most of the issue is that I just couldn’t figure it out.  I have only had a word 2 other years in my life, and if I’m honest they sounded good, but I didn’t do much with them.  But this year felt different.  It felt (and feels) important, so I kept looking and asking.

I recently had a night with some friends where we came together to share what we wanted God to do this year in us.  Not in our families or in our communities, but what was God saying to us, about ourselves?  It was such a special evening, and one I will treasure for a long long time.  I’m so excited to see what God does with our lives this year!

The thing I shared was that I felt this call to worship.  I feel like God has told me to worship with all I’ve got, every time I get on stage.  This is an incredibly vulnerable place for me.  When I worship fully, it seems to include jumping and lots of raised hands, and when I’m done it feels a little like God split me down the middle and showed everyone my insides.  It’s an experience full of freedom, but it feels SO vulnerable on the backside.  I am often completely exhausted on Sunday afternoons after helping to lead worship, and it’s not from the jumping around ;).  One day, I want to share the story of how God made this shift in my life – how he freed me up from the chains I was weighted down with in worship, but that’s not the story for today. 🙂

I then shared a few tangible things I know I need to do this year to execute worship better – things I want to be held accountable for.  I know I need to get my body to a place of being able to reflect what God is saying to do without also being so out of breath I can hardly sing anything else 1/2 way through a song.  I also know I need to do vocal exercises most days of the week.  When I was talking to them, I threw in at the end that I feel like I need to spend more time with God preparing my heart.  I know, I’m so spiritual…

Anyhow, it basically comes down to feeling this stirring inside to steward this gift He gave me well.

As the next few days went by, I was continuing to ask the Lord for my word this year.  What did he want to do in my heart besides becoming better at worshipping?  Because more than being able to execute worship well, I want to love Him well.  I want to honor Him with my whole life. And just like that the word popped right into my head – WORSHIP.  Ummm, what?  I know God, you want me to be the best worshipper I can be.  Got it.  Now I need a word. WORSHIP.

I sat there for a minute, and then it all made sense – WORSHIP.  With my whole life, not just my voice and my body on a stage, MY WHOLE LIFE.  This seems obvious now, but I had spent weeks throwing around all kinds of words that I didn’t love – fearless, trust, belief.  These are great words, and I know that God is calling me to do some things that require all of those words, but none of them sat well with me.  They weren’t “it”.  Worship…it just fits.

For the record, I’m not saying God is calling me to big stages or even things outside of my current life.  I really don’t know about all that.  Frankly, I don’t think it’s mine to know right now.  What I do know is that God is calling me to be all in for Him whenever He calls me to ANYTHING.  Whatever that means, wherever that is – all in.  No fear.  Trusting Him.  Believing the things He says.  And ultimately, that comes down to living a whole life of WORSHIP.

Do you have a word for the year?  If so, please share with me in the comments!  I would love to know so that I can encourage you!