Sunday, January 10, 2016

My word for 2016 - Loved

My word for 2016 is...

LOVED

Last night, I was still praying about my word for the year. I asked God to show me if the word was supposed to be "loved" (some things I was thinking about were leading to that). 

At church today, during Sunday school, we were asked to share what God has taught us and what we want Him to teach us in the next year. We were to tell our "personal faith stories". Last year's word, "trust", was brought up over and over again. And then the word I was praying about kept coming up as well...

When it was my turn to share, I said something like this:

Trust was my word of the year last year. I learned that I can't put all my trust in people. They will let you down Trust must be in God. And God alone. He will never let you down. 

Leading into this next year, I feel like my word is supposed to be "loved". I didn't know if I wanted it to be that. While my name means "well-loved", it is hard to love others deeply. It can hurt deeply as well. But I think I need to look at how God loves us. How we can love Him and His children. 

So it went something like that...

And it was confirmation that "loved" is the word. 


Here are some other things that led me to my word for the year. 

This bracelet:

I bought it after Christmas. The charm part with the word is interchangeable. One of the charms I happened to pick was "loved" because that is what my name means. 

This song I have heard over and over again on the cd Wow Worship 2016:

You Are Loved by Stars Go Dim


You are loved
If your heart's in a thousand pieces
If you're lost and you're far from reason
Just look up, know you are loved
Just look up, and know you are loved
When it feels like somethings missing
If it hurts but you can't find healing
Just look up, know you are loved
Just look up, know you are loved. ooh

(Video with lyrics: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-YbdaR7Plac ) 

And also this verse:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16 NIV

May it be a year to see what "loved" really means. 

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What is your word of the year? 



2 comments:

Rachel said...

Loved- what a wonderful meaning behind your name!
Curious, why do you choose a word for the year? What do you do with it?
This year, I too feel a word that God keeps bringing to my mind: Here. I think of it as a challenge to live fully right HERE, meaning this season of my life and literal location.
Hope this year you will learn and experience God's love in new ways!

Mandy H said...

I like choosing a word because it helps me to have focus and see how God is working in that area of my life. It becomes my theme for the year.

Last year, my word was trust. Since it was on my mind, it seemed to come up over and over. Each time with clearer understanding. Even towards the end of the year, when I hadn't thought about it for a while, it came up and I was reminded of it.

I apply the word in different ways. I journal and blog about it. I look up verses and quotes about it. I pray how God wants me to apply it to my life. You can do as little or as much as you want with it!

This book, One Perfect Word by Debbie Macomber, was inspiring, too: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YWFGZE/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

P.S. I think the word "here" is a great word for the year!