Tomorrow at the stroke of midnight we’ll be entering into a new year…2014 is coming!!!

As I look towards the new year, new resolutions always try to creep into my mind..lose weight, spend more time with God, don’t eat sugar, write a book, run 5x per week… I start out with good intentions but when the months go by without having resolutions met, I become some crippled, shame-filled monster afraid to even try at any resolutions. Please tell me, I’m not alone here.

A couple years ago, I heard about picking ONE WORD to define your year. That sat well with me. (She Loves Magazine blogged about it here) The thing I like about this ONE WORD thing is, it’s not complicated. Have a word that you want to define your year? Go with it. Can’t think of a word? Pray for one. But when you get one, own it and work it gurrrl. Write it out and put it on your fridge. Blog about it. Tell your grandma, tell your boyfriend, tell your cat (uhhh maybe not, i don’t think cats are very good accountability partners..sorry coco.) Last year some friends and I gathered for a ONE WORD dinner. We ate some delicious food and spoke about our ONE WORD.

In 2012, God gave me the word BOLD. He called me to rise up like a lioness and be BOLD. (You can read more about my BOLD year here)

And then 2013 came along where my ONE WORD was WALK. I have to be honest with you, when I first heard the word in the depths of my heart, I felt a little ripped off. My word the previous year was BOLD, (come on!) Give me SOAR or RUN or FLY or GLORY or even JOG but nope…WALK. (You can read about my mini argument with God here)

But oh, my Lord knew exactly what I needed for 2013. Here are a few treasures that I discovered this year.

1. WALK it out. Get off your butt and start walking. James and I live less than a 20 minute walk from the church. In our first 9 months of being married and living where we lived, I didn’t walk to work once. INSANE hey? For some reason, in the spring I started making walking to work a priority and you know what? I actually enjoyed walking. I actually really, really, really enjoyed it. You might say, I fell in love with walking. Walking to work soon became not enough for me and soon enough, I found myself walking on my lunch break as well. On these walks I would find myself talking to God in a different way than I have experienced. We would walk and talk in a non-rushed manner. Sometimes there would be a lot of conversing and sometimes there would be a lot of silent smiles. Sometimes we’d walk quickly and sometimes we’d walk slowly, stopping to take a picture of freshly fallen leaves. These walks would clear my mind and often God would drop tidbits into my mind that I wouldn’t have been able to hear if it was filled with its usual busy-ness. If I was having a stressful day, I would go for a venting power walk. These walks would usually begin with me yelling at the devil then move to claiming Jesus’ victory and freedom over mine and my family’s life/whatever situation was stressing me out. Walking even caused me to become healthier and was a major companion in helping me lose 10lbs (running & healthier eating helped as well). I’m so thankful that God introduced me to walking this year. It’s been a great relationship and I feel it’s going to last a long time :)

2. Keep WALKING. Don’t stop. Can’t stop. Won’t stop. I learned that walking through life takes P-E-R-S-E-V-E-R-A-N-C-E. Sometimes prayers remain unanswered. Sometimes (a lot of the time) life isn’t how you planned. This is a hard thing for type-A, control freak me. But I have learned this year that God is faithful and when you’re up to your thighs in the messiness and brokenness of life your only option is to keep walking. Keep going. Keep praying. Keep trusting. Keep persevering.

3. WALK intentionally. So I’ve been doing some distance education through Summit Bible College and my most recent course had me complete a word study….you’ll never guess what word I had to study in greek and write a paper on…yep, you got it, WALK!! (amazing, hey?) So as I studied WALK as it appears in Ephesians 4:1, I discovered that how you walk determines how you live.

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to WALK in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” - Ephesians 4:1-3 ESV

Wow, just wow. I was challenged in that moment, and I am still being challenged. Humility, gentleness, patience and love. Christ has called me to live with these virtues, every single day as I walk through life. He’s still teaching me and always will be teaching me and I’m ever so thankful for His unending patience.

2013, you’ve been a good one. Thank you Jesus for continually walking with me. Tomorrow I’ll be back with highlights of the year.

Thanks for reading :)

-s.s.♥.