My word of 2022 is...

I have always enjoyed the process of discovering my word for the year. However, this year, I found myself putting the process off and no word seemed to sit well with me.

I continued to pray and go about daily life with the thought of a word in the back of mind. The end of the year can be a hard or satisfying time for me, depending on how my year went, to be honest. I naturally go into a reflection and the end of this year still felt like a transition. If you know me well, you know that I really desire closure to things. So this transition and unknowns have been hard for me. It has stretched me to trust and keep on trusting even if things don’t look or feel settled. Another thing about the end of the year is I got COVID. I had to cancel a family Christmas and that felt all too familiar.

However, it did provide some time for me to reflect. A couple of things that God has put on my heart were some new disciplines he wants for me. Getting up early and working out regularly is a discipline I have started recently and would like to continue. Another is committing to reading the bible consistently in a more chronological way. I also want to write on a more consistent basis as well. Since he had put it on my heart to make time for these things, I started to wonder if my word was discipline. Honestly, I was quite disappointed with that. The word discipline for 2022 felt like a trap of shame if I miss one day of my new disciplines and it also felt like the acts themselves would have more weight than the reason behind them. But then God led me to another word that brought more hope to the year.

Expand. He reminded me that all of the new disciplines were providing room. Room for God to speak to me through his scripture and my writing. Working out allows for my mental and physical health to be prepared for what may lie ahead. Each new discipline expands room for the future God has for me and I will have the space to receive it. In turn, I can expand my mind to allow for new dreams and expand my belief in what God is capable of in my life.

This word excites me more than any other word I have had! I am so thankful God has led me to it. It has infinite possibilities and I am so excited to see how to keep track of how God expands in my life this year!