Believe

Happy New Year, my friends! I hope you enjoyed your New Year's Eve - even though I imagine it looked different for some of you from your normal routines. 

I glanced back through early-January blog posts for the past couple of year and learned that this is my third year to take Dayspring's word-of-the-year quiz. In 2019, my word was courage, and God taught me in that year that part of being courageous is learning to wait well. In 2020, my word was abide, and God taught me that much of abiding required waiting in Him. (And my goodness...I certainly did a lot of abiding in 2020 as we made such huge life changes!) 

For 2021, my word came back as believe. 

Believe.

One of the first things that popped in my head when I read the word took me back to high school when I took sign language lessons. When Sheila taught me the word believe, she explained that it was the sign for thought and marry put together. When you believe, you are married to your thought. That's what makes it a belief. It's a covenant of your mind, heart, and soul.

It seems (per social media) everyone is eager for today to arrive. It feels to so many hearts that if we can somehow get past writing 2020 on everything, life will reset and be okay again.

But 2021 is merely a new number and no magical fix arrives in a Santa-esque way, dropped down chimneys at midnight on New Year's Eve. By the time you wake up and read this post, today probably will look very much as yesterday - on the outside, anyway.

We do, however, have control over what goes on inside our hearts, minds, and thoughts. We have the chance to marry our thoughts into the covenant of God's Word and His desires. 

And that's what I hope to believe most in this new year. 

I'm reminded of a Beth Moore Bible study I took many years ago - back when I was still single and had endless nights open to participate in Bible studies with other women. My friend Marie and I attended the study at her church every Monday night, and it was called Believing God.

Those of you who took that study remember what Beth called everyone to do at every session. We stood and said with conviction the five core statements of the study:

God is Who He says He is.

God can do what He says He can do.

I am who God says I am.

I can do all things through Christ.

God's Word is alive and active in me.

And then at least in our group, we ended that recitation with a loudly proclaimed I'm believing God!

Maybe I need to start reciting those again each day. They're powerful reminders that this life I'm called to live is not done in my own strength, but it requires me to offer belief.

So in this year, I'm believing God. I'm marrying my thoughts to His Word and I'm believing Him to do big and impossible things in our lives and in this work we've been called to do. 

What are you committing to in 2021?