2014: New Year, New Word.

In 2012 I had a word: Discipleship.
In 2013 I had a word: Thankfulness.

In both years God grew me in these places. Did He grow me in other places?  absolutely -100%  But when I took time to notice him growing me in these particular areas in the last year it was amazing.

This year was a big year for us.  We grew a lot. We questioned a ton. We learned about the church and about God. We grew together. My husband got a new car, I graduated PA school, passed my boards and started my first job. We traveled together to New Hampshire, Delaware, Washington DC, Baltimore, MD, Tampa, St. Augustine and I went to Texas to help my best friend move and get situated. We moved into a house. We bought a washer/dryer and we have a big table to gather family and friends around. We learned to budget better. We completed Dave Ramsey and are running like gazelles. We loved each other more. We grew closer to friends. We studied the bible harder. We were blessed with a year of no skin cancer for me and a year of good health for Paul. We changed our diet cutting out GMO foods slowly but surely as much as we can. We were blessed enough to give more in 2013 than ever before. We trusted God with more and more and He blessed us more and more. I am excited and prayerful for 2014. Excited to see what God has planned. Excited to grow and learn and see what is in store for our family. I'm sure 2014 will have trials as did 2013, but I know that God has a plan and I have my husband by my side.

For me specifically this year not only blessed me with accomplishments and paychecks but I learned a lot. Specifically I learned to be thankful. I wish I could you I have mastered thankfulness: but what I've mastered is learning how often I'm not thankful. I have learned more about what the bible says about thankfulness and I have learned to make a habit of being thankful that is greatly improved form previous years.

In the last day of 2013 I was challenged. My work had applied for a specific type of loan repayment program that would really help us financially. It's something we prayed about a lot asking God to provide. Yesterday I found out the office was declined. We did not get loan repayment. In that moment was I thankful: No. I was sad. I trust God has a plan. God is helping me to see that plan, helping me to trust Him. And as I sit and ponder and pray about what word God wants to grow me in this year I'm met with so many words that mostly could be summed up in the following:

the fruits of the spirit : love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness faithfulness and self control.

I could be more loving. God is love and that is what He asks of us.
I could be more joyful (I learned that in my year of thanks) having my thankfulness overflow into joy.
I could use peace that surpasses all understanding.
I could definitely use more patience.
I could grow in kindness.
I could have more goodness flow out of me and learn more about God's goodness
I could be more gentle, and compassionate.
I could be more faithful, trust that God is faithful and trust Him.
I could have more self control and give more control to God.

so I asked my husband  and he suggested love because you can become more joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, general faithful and controlled. The greatest of these is Love. A word that as I had prayed about this so far had come up often.

So there we have it folks. Love.

Happy 2014.
What's your word of the year? What word are you seeking that God can teach you about in 2014. Friends know that even though I focused on 1 word, God used that word to grow me in so many other words and it helped make me more aware. It's not limiting God to one word but opening my heart to see how that 1 word God uses in so many ways.

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