Yes, I know. My New Year’s post is a bit tardy. Guilty as charged. My excuses are lame but legitimate:
- I’ve been busy finishing my new daily devotional scheduled to release later this year (I’ll keep you posted with details).
- The first few weeks of 2025 came and went on a gust of wind.
- I was preparing to teach two Bible Studies (which are going full force now).
- I started my dreaded annual Just Do It Debbie Diet, and all I can think of is food. (I’ve lost 8 lbs since Jan 1. WooHOO!)
Are you sympathetic yet? Seriously, you don’t know misery until you can’t eat chocolate. Everything brown ends up in my mouth. (BTW, wooden pencils taste like tree bark. Ewww, nasty.)
Like many of you, at the beginning of each new year, I like to come up with a word that I can aspire to for the new year … a single word that expresses my hope and goals for the upcoming chunk of time that Papa God has blessed me with on this earth. I like to look back over the passing year and list the things I’m most thankful for. Then I earmark the things that taught me spiritual lessons (not always the same things). Then I ask my heavenly Father to help me choose what my personal goals for the brand new year should be. And a word-for-the-year inevitably floats to the top.
My word for this year is resilience. I saw it in a fellow writer’s bio as one of her esteemed credentials: Resilience Expert. Wow! Wouldn’t that be AWESOME to have as an identifying title after your name? Webster defines resilience as “the ability to recover from or adjust to compressive stress.” Yep. That’s what I want to be … more resilient. And to become more resilient, I know I’ll need more of Papa God’s grace. And that’s the part I truly yearn for – the ability to accept, exist in, and embrace more of God’s grace for everyday living.
You’re nodding your head, aren’t you? Maybe you’re feeling the need for a little more expertise in the field of resilience too. If so, here’s a great verse for you and I to soak in this year:
“No matter how many times you trip them up, God-loyal people don’t stay down long; soon they’re up on their feet” (Proverbs 24:16 MSG).
So dear BFF (Blessed Friend Forever), if you do the word-for-the-year thing, I’d love to hear your 2025 word and why you chose it. Please comment below. Hugs!!!
Don’t usually do the word-of-the-year thing but a friend does and as she was pondering someone came up with “Thrive”. Thrive in 2025! I already have a head start if you consider the “to increase in bulk” definition. ???
Patricia, thrive is such an excellent word – a next level concept we can all aspire to. You cracked me up about increasing in bulk. I reckon that’s something we all work against instead of toward. Praying you thrive in ’25, girlfriend!
Deb, I love your word, resilience! I can testify to resilience as I survived a very difficult year. I survived! I now want to thrive, and so my word for this year is actually two words, “choose joy“. So thankful for God‘s faithfulness!
Oh, Sandi – you, my dear, are my role model for resilience. And I love your words for the year: choose joy! I have no doubt that with the Lord working within you (Ephesians 3:20-21), you’ll do just that. Hugs to you!