Last New Years Day, God gave me the word "trust" with the verse "Walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7) and oh my goodness was it such a lifeline for so many moments throughout the year! Coming into 2021 after a really tough year, I anticipated I would need to continue to trust God in many areas, but so many unexpected circumstances arose during the year and even though it felt like I could see less and less of the path before me, I had to choose to cling to the faith and trust I had that Jesus was with me. Coming into 2022, I wondered what word God would give me for this season. I feel like trust is something we all have to work on our whole lives because it encompasses so much of our Christian walk. Looking at the year ahead, I wondered whether God’s word for me would be something like ‘peace’, ‘joy’, ‘patience’ or ‘preparation’. But I didn't want to choose my word based on what I thought it would be! On Dec 31st, I started journaling, reflecting on 2021 and pondering about 2022, intending to spend some time praying to ask God to reveal His word for me, however I got interrupted by the plans of the day, so other than a few prayers on the go, I hadn't had a chance to just sit and listen.
Then at church on Sunday 2nd Jan, I was on the worship band at church so I was there before the service, praying for the congregation and the team. I felt led to thank God and pray into the hope we have in things that are eternal and above earthly things. During the service, we got into pairs to pray about the coming year and again, this theme of putting our hope in Jesus, not in all the circumstances around us, nor on even ourselves, started coming through my thoughts. Straight afterwards, I was just sitting there reflecting on the supposed randomness of this theme and I felt a little whisper in my heart that said "that's your word - HOPE". It hadn't even entered my brain as an option I had been wondering about, but was so clear that this was my word, although I wasn't exactly sure what Bible verse was going to accompany it and what exactly it will mean for my life. As I kept thinking, the words "may the God of hope fill you with peace" came to mind, and it rang bells that it could be Romans 15:13. I looked it up at the end of the service and read these words and immediately I was like YES, this is it! "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
Obviously, it is only the 3rd of Jan and I have no idea what so much of this year will look like, and exactly how this verse and word will be an encouragement to me, but there are 2 main principles that I feel are in the word HOPE. Firstly, no matter what happens this year, my hope is in Jesus and not on anything in this world. Not a job or my previous studies or money or getting a house or stability in the world or in any person. As the verse says, our hope is in God, and when our hope is in Him and we are believing in (and trusting in!) Him, then we will be able to experience joy and peace. When we look around us, there is sometimes so much hopelessness, especially after the last couple of challenging years, so it's only by the power of Holy Spirit that we can look beyond this to the One who is still in control and holding the world in His hands.
The second part that I feel convicted about, is to not go into this world with low expectations and be apprehensive, anticipating worst case scenarios at every turn. After so much unsettledness, it's so easy to become used to plans always having to change, and exciting things not working out exactly as we want them. Keeping low expectations so that I won't be disappointed had become my attitude stance. However, I don't believe that living with this attitude is what God wants for me (and us). Every single day, no matter what happens, there is so much goodness because God is in every day. We can be hopeful going into this year, not because we can count on going on that particular holiday or hosting that particular event, but because God is with us and He has so much planned for this year that we don't even know about. The verse doesn't say "we can have a little bit of hope that things might work out", it says we "ABOUND in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit". Abound means 'in large amounts' and how true that is for anything to do with our Father... Even when disappointments come, it's okay because God is our comforter and healer, and our hope is in Him, not whatever the disappointment is.
I hope that this encourages you to join me in having hope coming into 2022, and also encourages you to ask God for your own word and scripture to help you through this year. It might also be hope, or it could be any good character trait that God wants to grow in you this year. I cannot tell you how encouraging and helpful it was last year to be reminded to just keep walking by faith in God, and honestly couldn't recommend having a word for the year enough! It's not going to be the only thing God will be growing you in during the 12 months that's for sure, because there are so many different things we are always working on, but this is just something specific for 2022. Love to you all and I hope you have a wonderful start to the new year! xx
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