( a few cellphone pics from lately)

For the past few years I have chosen a word for the year. I wanted to do a little recap of past words and the thoughts I had written with them at the time.

Last year…..

For the past few years I have chosen a “word” for the year. 2014… my word is BRAVE. My whole life I have basically been the opposite of brave. I have been careful and I have been anxious. Ever since this post  I have been praying that I would be brave. I want my faith to be strong and to rest in His plan above my own…no matter what it holds. I have a feeling in my gut that this year is going to entail trusting Him a lot. Chris’ movie will be released, I am *hoping* for our last baby which will be a flood of trust & emotions, new opportunities, Aiden will start Kindergarten, we will have our first Hopespoken conference and a million unknowns.

I want to be brave. 

I want to take this one, beautiful, precious life and I want to live it well. 

I want to literally run towards the plans that He has for me. I don’t want to hesitate, I want to soar… arms spread wide open. 

This morning I woke up and Aiden’s arms were around my neck. I pulled back and the sunlight was perfectly shining in on his face. I ran my hands across his forehead to brush back his sweet hair and just  thanked God for him. Then I turned my head and Ainsleigh was there too. They must have crept down the hall in the night and snuck in beside us. Her eyelashes and pouty lips were perfectly still as her tiny little lungs rose and fell. I could hear Apple stirring nearby. My precious Appie. These babies are such a gift…. I mean truly a gift. And having open hands with their precious lives is such a struggle for me.

But this is my year…the year where I am brave. 

Little did I know how much I would need to embrace the word brave this year past year. So many things happened, so many hard roads, so much heartache. 2014 taught us much and I believe with my whole heart that 2015 is the spring after the long rain. It is the year of FREEDOM. My words for 2015 are BELIEVE & FREEDOM. I am going to claim them and let them take over every bit of me. I am claiming it now so that a year from now I can look back and say wow, those words were perfect for 2015.  

Here are few snippets from other past “words”…

2013 was HOPE.

” I have tangible hope in multiple areas. God redeemed my heartache. Sometimes I wonder if we as humans encounter heartache, loss and sadness not only because this is a fallen and sinful world. An imperfect world. But also so that we can truly appreciate the joys as well. On a new level of appreciation. A new level of thanks. To balance out human perspective.This isn’t heaven so we can’t understand the whole picture. We must have hope to come out on the other side of tasting incredible sadness. I want to matter. and not in the “I am awesome and matter so much kind of way”, I want my life to mean something. God has me here for a purpose and I am constantly seeking out what that is and what that looks like. I want my life to matter. I want to give hope. “

2011 was PEACE.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9 My all time favorite book, “A Beautiful Offering” has a chapter on peace… “When you decide to live out what you believe. When you decide you want peace in your possession, then you will find out what that looks like & feels like. You begin to pray for God to give you peace. You incorporate peace in your relationships. You decide to respond differently. You speak in love. Act in tenderness. You imitate what you know about peace until it becomes a reality for your character & your life.” It is so convicting. Dying to your desire. Dying to your flesh. “He restores what has been broken & heals what has been wounded. I don’t have peace because I figured it all out. I have peace because I believe in Christ.”

2012 was CHANGE.

“I have roots that run deep. 
The old me that I am constantly fighting… insecure, unforgiving, entitled….it’s time to uproot and CHANGE.
 So this year I will keep the word peace as a daily mission and add the word change. 
Because it’s time. 
Those poisonous roots have been in me far too long.”

Do you have a word for 2015??