What’s your word for 2023? The idea of a word for the coming year has been most popularly advocated in this book – One Word That Will Change Your Life. Others have advocated a phrase or verse. In either case, the key to such an exercise is to look to and listen for what God would say regarding the coming year. My word for last year was ENJOY! This concept guided me through the year and reminded me to pause, reflect, and enjoy the experience I was in or had been in. At the end of 2022, I spent time listing the enjoyable experiences God gave me over the year. Both exercises proved valuable in opening my heart to this enjoyment and God’s enjoyment with me. My phrase for this year is “run with endurance.” It comes from Hebrews 12:1-3. As I was praying about 2023, God reminded me of this passage he used to impact me recently. At first, I wouldn’t say I liked the idea of endurance. I thought that would mean I would have tough times in 2023 that I needed to endure. But, as I acknowledged this to God, he reoriented my thoughts to the ideas before the command to run with endurance. Those thoughts focus on how to run with endurance. They include laying aside every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles us. God wants me to focus on these two ideas for the coming year in the light of running with endurance. I will pass along some thoughts on those two ideas in the future. For now – What is your word, phrase, or verse for the coming year that God wants you to carry throughout 2023?

Posted by Bob Schindler at 2023-01-05 13:30:51 UTC