This makes for five.
And five carries significance on its wings somehow, someway.
You see, for five years in a row I’ve asked God for a word. Just one word. One word to shape me, one word to break me, one word to reflect on throughout the year. One word to remain unchanging as I change.
I’ve gotten down on my knees, found myself surrounded by trees, or let the lights dim during worship service and whispered please.
The way He’s given each word is a story in itself, really. And the words themselves have stories attached, too. You can read snippets of the stories here.
- 2010 // o p p o r t u n i t y — that year no one knew how to say when we were (is it oh-ten or ‘ten or twenty-ten?), I hardly knew where I was, new grad that I was. I started writing.
- 2011 // r a d i c a l — because it’s synonymous with Daring (my favorite word of them all).
- 2012 // p r a y e r — failed me. Or I failed it. And I learned therein lies its greatest beauty
- 2013 // r e n e w i n g –knocked me off my feet and plopped me on a dusty path where the sunlight shimmers
- 2014 // …
I actually wondered for a while if I could just adopt renewing again and keep on keeping on with that word because it has come to mean a lot to me, mind and soul.
Then, right when I asked Jesus if I could keep it, He gave me this one. Isn’t He good?
I think this year’s word may be the bravest of them all. I think this year may be the bravest of them all. This is the year when I tilt my editor’s hat to the side and say I’ve got this adulthood biz. This is the year I toss a cap in the air and say goodbye to uni.
A sweep of His Word revealed that my word comes into Scripture most when battles clang and crash. Confession? That doesn’t make me smile.
But I’m excited, people. Shaky-scared about all the change this year will bring (and some changes I cannot even fathom, I know). Yet thrilled, too, to see just what He means when He calls me to rise.
I love it already.
- I love that He calls the dead to rise and speaks to those in the dust, “Awake and sing for joy!” (Isaiah 26:19)
- I love that He calls us to be rising lights to the hungry and afflicted. (Isaiah 58:10)
- I love that Jesus bends near, touches me, and whispers, “Rise, and have no fear.” (Matthew 17:7)
Truthfully, I’d love a word like love or peace or settled or kind or holy. Lord knows I need help claiming those.
Perhaps, though, that’s the battle He calls me to. A battle for the sacred in a soul that is so sin-scarred…but ever renewing.
So I guess, in a way, I get to keep last year’s word after all. Even as I claim this one and ever remember He is my shield.
Shields are enabling armor. They protect the warrioress while her sword swings high.
So this is me, learning to swing and trust and see despite the dust.
Me, When the Dust Swirls
And rise.
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