By: Julie Thompson
Two years ago I gave up making New Year’s resolutions (since I always failed anyways) and starting focusing on one word for the entire year. Taking the “One Word Challenge” has been such a positive experience in my life, that I knew I wanted to do it again for 2017.
I first looked back on the words I focused on the past 2 years:
2015: Obey
2016: Share
I recently wrote about how the word “Share” impacted my life in 2016.
The past few weeks I have been praying about what my “one word” should be for 2017. Several words have come to mind, but one word has continued to pop up over and over again. It’s a word that initially seemed kind of strange for me to focus on. One morning, before I went to church, I prayed that God would either give me a confirmation or a new word.
During worship, this word once again came to mind, along with a Bible verse and a quote that I read recently. I knew in that moment that my word for 2017 would be: “LOOK.”
In 2017 I want to LOOK for:
- Ways to encourage and help others more
- Ways to show others they are loved and valuable
- “Love isn’t what I have the opportunity to get from this world. Love is what I have the opportunity to give.” ~ Lysa TerKeurst
- Signs of God’s goodness / presence
- Most of us tend to have busy schedules, full of demands (and distractions). Life can be exhausting and challenging. I don’t know about you, but it’s easy for me to be so focused on my “to-do” list that I miss what God is doing all around me.
- Because of this, I’m going to intentionally pray the following verse back to God and then be expectant and LOOK for Him to answer: “Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame, for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.” ~ Psalm 86:17.
- Seeing signs of God’s goodness/presence each day will not only encourage me, but hopefully those signs will cause others to desire a relationship with Him.
What one word will you focus on in 2017?
To read more blogs by Julie, check out her personal blog: www.pagesofloveblog.com
2 replies on “One Word Challenge”
My one word for 2017 is transparent. That is a challenge for me. I am honest but not necessarily transparent. I don’t let others inside and see my feelings and vulnerability. To tell others the personal side of me is truly difficult. Yet, I must walk the talk. I am working hard on this and I pray for my ability to be transparent every day. It is a challenge!
Mary Ellen, being transparent is challenging for me too. I have prayed that God would bring “safe” people into my life who I could be vulnerable with. And while He has done that, it is still difficult to let people see what’s truly going on inside of me. Transparency can be scary, but it can also bring freedom. Thanks so much for sharing and being transparent!