"In His Presence...there is joy beyond all measure." Then it hits me again...that's my word.
I prayed about the word...my word for this year...the word presence.
This word is already having impact in my life. Recognizing it where I would have missed it before. Reminding myself as I leave the house.
This word thing has taken on a life of itself. I told a few friends what I was up too...wrote here for you to see.
My sister-in-law she gets a word, and says, "I didn't even want a word". And I laugh because she is not kidding and God sometimes gives a gift even when we don't want one.
My friend tells me she figured out her word and already had a witness about how God was using it in her life. A group of us sit, as I check attendance, and discuss this word business.
And the one I often sing with she runs to get her daughter from school and comes back..."I got a word!" and we laugh because it is a perfect word for her.
Then the second one sitting with us discussing the words, she heads off to prepare for chimes...sticks her head out from around the door..."I know my word", she says. "It just came to me when I was drawing this silly figure on the board and I know it must be from God because it has nothing to do with what I am drawing."
I travel to work this morning. Pick up the first phone call and my sister, she's calling, coming to sit and visit as I work. We talk and she listens because I can really get excited about the things I am learning. She must leave sometimes wondering if she got one word into the conversation. I am talked out and then she says..."I got a word". I smile because yesterday as the group talked she says she is not sure she is even supposed to have a word.
These words others are receiving...I am responding as if someone has told me they are pregnant for the first time. My heart jumps...I want to clap my hands...excitement spreads through me as I wonder what potential this has in their lives, my life, the church's life.
What's really in a word...the question I had no answer for a few days ago...I have an answer now. Each word given is like a seed planted...the beginning of a pregnancy. We will spend a year, my sisters and I, nurturing these words...allowing them to grow inside our hearts...letting God use them in our lives. And he will because he already has and he is the one who makes things grow.
At the end of the long nine months...when it is time...and the birth pains are done...holding this tiny one who grew inside you...there is transformation...a woman becoming a mother.
Perhaps after this year...when the teaching and the growing with these words is done...we too will hold this new fruit in our hands...and we will be transformed.
Have you considered asking God for word you can focus your year of spiritual growth around. Try it...and when you get the answer...I want to hear from you. Just leave your comments right here at the bottom of this page.
