My word is COURAGE. What is your word for 2019?

Image Credit:  Samuel Scrimshaw - Public Domain Image - via Freely Photos

Courage

Happy New Year

A few years ago, a friend brought it to my attention that she had been challenged to choose one word to focus on for the year.  This "one word" was intended to take the place of her New Year's resolution.  New Year's resolutions are made with good intentions and if you are still rocking yours, more power to you!  Keep up the good work!  For many people, though, a New Year's resolution is a source of stress and then ends up becoming the cause of much frustration and a sense of failure when the criteria for said resolution isn't met successfully.

What if, instead of a New Year's resolution, we choose a word to focus on throughout the year?  What if we choose a word that helps us stay focused on deepening our relationship with our Lord from January to December?

Since my son is deployed this year, I had thought about choosing the word "courage."   This word was confirmed for me a on December 30th when I took the Dayspring 2019 Word of the Year Quiz.  My result was . . . you guessed it . . . COURAGE.

This is the perfect word for me for 2019 because courage is something I will truly need to focus on in order to get through the year.  This separation from my son, the young man I still see as my baby boy (boy mom's understand - haha) is much harder than I expected.  I thought I would handle it better since we had so much time to prepare, but can any mother really prepare to send her son off to war?

I won't lie.  I'm struggling.  I need courage:

to face each day without my boy.

to stand firm when everything within me wants to crouch down in paralyzing fear.

to rest in the promises of God when I am weary from anxiety.

to trust God with my son's future when my mama's heart just wants to bring him home to safety.

to encourage other young wives and moms when I feel like I'm the one who needs encouragement.

to follow the advice of one of my military mom friends when she told me to remember to turn my times of fear into times of worship and praise.

Perhaps you have already chosen your word for 2019.  Perhaps your word is "courage" like mine.  If you have not chosen your word for 2019, consider taking the Dayspring Word of the Year Quiz.  Obviously I thought it was a helpful tool.  I'd love to know what your word is so feel free to tell me in the comments below!

Happy New Year!