A Fruitful 2017

I have chosen a word and a verse to think on, pray about, and live out each year for the past several years - 2014 was endurance, 2015 was joy, and 2016 was intentional.

And let me correct myself quickly, I haven't exactly chosen it as much as I've felt called by God to claim it (or work on it) in my life.

I thought endurance would be great in 2014 because I was starting the year with delivering a baby (talk about the need for endurance!?) and then raising that sweet little newborn, but what I did not know was all the endurance I would need for all that God had planned for us that year (Brad's 3 surgeries, 20 weeks of home health, and the beginning of his weekly travel to North Carolina).

My word for 2015 was one God repeatedly showed me I needed to work on - JOY.  I had very little of it in my life, and I just felt extremely negative all of the time.  I chose to claim that word and study it throughout the year, including reading "The Greatest Gift" by Ann Voskamp, where I began to track my #1000gifts.  It was a game changer for me, and although I still need work in that area, I know God did a great work in my life because of that word.

Some years I fall flat on my face.  I didn't FORGET about my word for 2016, and certainly did not forget my verse - {And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17} - but I certainly didn't make any of the efforts I intended to in order to live intentionally.  Although 2016 is behind us, my goal for 2017 is to be a little more intentional with all that God has given me and called me to - as a wife, a mother, a friend, and a daughter of the King.

Those three words came to me over the course of months leading up to the end of the prior year, and I really expected it to always go that way.  I figured God would always put something on my heart to work on or claim for the upcoming year, but lately, all I've heard is radio silence!! I've prayed and prayed, and here we are, 4 days before year end (as I type this...) and I didn't have a specific word as of 8:00 this morning.  I'd been thinking about a few and praying for some direction, but nothing was really standing out to me the way it normally does.

That was until I was standing in my bathroom, ticked off at my husband for something that Satan was turning in to a much bigger deal than it actually was, and I thought, "Boy do I need some patience.  Maybe THAT should be my 2017 word?!"

But have you ever prayed for patience?!  I'm pretty sure I did as a 6th grader and I'm still getting the lessons thrown my way, 18 years later...I could give you a laundry list of the things I've "waited on" or "waited out" or "patiently endured."

Over the past week, I've also considered a few others, like LOVE, and JOY, and PEACE...and then it hit me...FRUIT.  I need each of those areas to improve in my life. I WANT each of those areas to improve in my life.  I want my life to bear the FRUIT of Christ, showing love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control.  (The irony is not lost on me that my word for the year is a word that - in different context - has rocked our world a bit over the last 2 years...)

Over the years, I have loved studying the passage in Galatians chapter 5 that discusses this very topic and plan on studying it over the next 12 months - and each month I'll focus on one of the words.  So here's to a LOVING January, a JOYFUL February, a PEACEFUL March, a PATIENT April, a KIND May, a GOOD June, a FAITHFUL July, a GENTLE August, and a SELF-CONTROLLED September.  And I'll swing back around for a second round of those words for the last quarter of the year...you know, the Holidays when you could use a little more of each area! ;)  Here's to a year of FRUIT in 2017!