When You Really Need a Do-Over... or more like a Do-Better! A OneWord365 post.

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It's nearing the end of the year and if you've hung out around here in late December or early January, then you know that we do a few Annual posts...

* One is the post where I discuss All the Books... I already wrote that one and you can find it HERE.

* Another one is usually posted on January 1st or 2nd, and that is a Prophetic post revealing a Word (or phrase) and a Book in the Bible that I feel the Lord is highlighting for the year to come! This post comes after spending the first few hours of the New Year alone and cuddled in close, asking Him for His heart for what is to come. (So that will come soon!)

* And then there is this OneWord365 project that we have done for several years and counting now! (This is that post!)

Listen,  here's the deal:
2018 has been so full of Heavy and Hard (even more so than 2017... which was pretty terrible, if you recall!) and somehow I completely forgot about my OneWord... 

Well, it seems it forgot about me, too!
Or at least that is how I felt
when I went back to look it up!


Joy...

My OneWord for 2018 was Joy.

A few weeks ago, I found myself taking one of those facebook quizzes that we all know we're not supposed to take -but every once in a while, we do it anyway! 

Well, this 'quiz' was supposed to tell you what your Word for 2019 was going to be! I took it, and only then did I remember that I had let a Word come pick me earlier but I'd forgotten about it through all the battles of 2018. Ironically, the word that this game/app/quiz picked for me for 2019 was the same word that picked me for 2018.

Upon (re)discovering this, I wrote this post on Facebook:

"Listen... Joy was supposed to be my word for 2018 and while I definitely did hold on to Joy... I will hang on to this word for another year GLADLY, in hopes that it will overflow and overtake me and spill out everywhere I go! Honestly... I forgot Joy was supposed to be my word this year... most of the year hasn't felt joy-filled so I'm up for a do-over... er... a Do-Better!"

What about you? Do need a Do-Over or a Do-Better when it comes to Joy, too?

Through much of the year filled with loss and longing, we did manage to hang on to a bit of Joy. The losing our footing and losing our 'security' caused us to cling tightly to each other and to God and because we are wired the way He made us, we would often find ridiculous joy spilling up and over in the midst of all the heavy feelings and confused emotions.

We can't help it! We love to laugh.  

We make it a point to crack each other up every single day. 

We are sold on the truth of the verse in Proverbs 17 that states, "A joyful, cheerful heart brings healing to both body and soul. But the one whose heart is crushed struggles with sickness and depression." (TPT)

So... when at all possible, we have intentionally chosen Joy.  It's just that sometimes we forget. (Or don't feel like it... or chose it in our wills but it doesn't always make it down to our emotions!)

I wrote just a few weeks ago about how I was longing for Joy... for a little Christmas Wonder to break through the Dark. I wrote that my prayer was that you would slow and seek Him... that as you prepared Him room and turned your attention (and your worries) over to Jesus... while you were looking, He would open your eyes... I wrote:

"May Wonder & Joy give you a depth of vision that you have not yet encountered & may the Spirit of Christ(mas) invite you to see what is already there!"

Yeah. That.

I still want that.

So my OneWord365 this year is a Do-Over word... because I still fully, expectantly hope and believe that Joy hasn't really had its' way with me yet! 

There is more to receive and more to give away... 
there is more to learn and more to teach on
when it comes to Joy and how vital it is.

It's almost a given when everything is coming up roses...
but it's when the soil lay frozen and dormant,
tilled and torn up that we need it the most!

So, as 2018 wraps up and 2019 unfolds,
I will be looking for JOY
--unspeakable and full of glory.

I'll look for it in the obvious, easy, light and breezy places (like our Lil Miss and her sweetness and laughter,
or a perfect cup of coffee and catching up face to face with a friend...) 
but I will also look for it in the deep,
beneath the surface,
amongst the unearthing and re-seeding... amongst the watering and the weeding! 

I'll be intentional in finding it,
in relishing in it --when I feel it or not--
and in giving it away with reckless abandon!

After all... Bob Goff said it this way:

"When joy is a habit, love is a reflex."

And the goal is to Speak Life... to Be Love... and to Shine On, right? 

What about you, my friend? Do you participate in finding One Word (or letting One Word find you?)  If so... what's your Word? I'd love to hear!




We will be back on January 1st or 2nd with that Annual Prophetic post... and then after that, it will be hit and miss for a few weeks while I have a couple of surgeries!