2016 has been… well… interesting.
That is really the best word I can come up with to describe it, at least for our family. It hasn’t been bad, it hasn’t been great, it’s just been… Interesting. Or maybe intense. You know. Like camping. (Get it? In-tents? Pretty sure I’ve used that pun/joke on here before.)
There’s been some hard moments, some joyous moments, and A LOT of moments that involved initial confusion then subsequent personal growth.
So yeah. 2016 has been interesting.
And such has also been the case for my OneWord I was living out this year… “TRUTH.”
As I mentioned at the beginning of this year, “Truth” was my first OneWord that was more of a noun than a verb. (Previous yearly words have been trust, stand, grow and rest.)
This, in and of itself, was a nice change of pace. But the results were a little harder to quantify than normal.
Like with my word REST, I literally implemented times of unwinding in my day, sometimes in the form of napping…. A habit which has become a rather permanent fixture in my life as a pregnant mama and army wife.
But truth– how do you measure that?
I intentioned memorized Scripture this year, because God’s Word is Truth. (More details to follow on that, because it was one of my God-Sized dreams for 2016.)
But honestly, “Truth” was a little hard to nail down. Especially when 2016 found us dealing with so many big life transitions, like retiring from PWOC president, the natural dissolution of our incredible church Home Group (since we were ALL moving away) and the subsequent release from leadership in that realm.
We faced the emotional turmoil of ministering to our dear friends after the unexpected loss of their premature daughter, when three days later we discovered that Brandon and I were pregnant. Then (another) cross-country military move, with a layer of crazy-lady pregnancy hormones.
I was called to shift my heart focus from shepherding to “sheeping.”
There were moments this year that I felt that “truth” was all I had to hold onto– and even that was rather elusive. In occasions of high emotions (and the incredibly confusing/intense world of hormones), the lies of the enemy were louder than they have ever been before.
I experienced brief moments in time when I felt like I was on the boat in a storm… And Jesus wasn’t just asleep on the boat, but it felt like I was on the boat completely alone.
I struggled. I wrestled. I (sometimes) panicked. I grappled. But after spiritual flailing, I always found God’s TRUTH to be the anchor I needed to bring me back.
As with all of my other OneWords, I know that my experience of living out His Truth does not stop when the clock strikes twelve on January 1, 2017. Walking with Jesus is no Cinderella experience– it doesn’t have an expiration date and my “Words” (and mission) continue to build on one another as the years on the calendar change.
Friends, did you have a “OneWord” for 2016? What was it? How did you experience that in your life this year? Jump in and leave a comment below.
Stay tuned for more 2016 reflection later this week… And soon some new direction as we march forward into 2017.
His Truth is Marching On,
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ~John 8:32
