My Word for 2023

Hello friends! So... I have yet to tell you about my word for 2023 - and it's May. This has been a January tradition on my blog for the last couple of years, but better late than never, right? In all seriousness, this has actually been a good thing. I have been able to chew on my word for months before putting it into words.

If you aren't sure what I mean when I say, 'my word for 2023', here's a little context:

For the past couple of years, at the beginning of the year, I have been praying and asking God for a word. You could call this word a landmark, something that I can keep coming back to constantly throughout the year. My first word was in 2021 - surrender. Funny enough, I ended up surrendering a lot to Christ that year. My second word, for 2022, was rebirth. That one was confusing, as I had already been a Christian for years and therefore had been born again, but then, I gleamed exactly what He meant by it:

{Rebirth: a period of new life, growth, or activity; a revival}

Call it a coincidence, but my faith ended up skyrocketing that year - the new growth was undeniable. My 'word of the year' has always summed up the year beautifully and in ways that I could never imagine or guess.

But my word for 2023, my friends, I'm not going to lie - this new word scared me at first. He gave me the word acceptance which jolted me into a state of worry. I instantly thought, "What was going to happen this year that I would have to accept?" Ah, the fleshly state of mind at work.

I had restricted the word acceptance to this definition:

1. {willingness to tolerate a difficult situation}

In a similar manner to my word rebirth from last year, I had taken what I perceived the word to mean, without being opened to what He meant by it. And thus, fear snuck in and blocked out His voice.

Looking back through my other words, I realize that I've always jumped to this mindset of fear:

With my 2021 word surrender, I feared exactly what that would mean. How much of myself would I have to give up? How do I give myself over to Him completely? What if I surrendered and then He asked me to do something scary? All of these fears got blown out of the water when I realized giving all of myself to God meant freedom and that He would never ask me to do something that He didn't first prepare me for. There is always a peace attached to a calling.

With my 2022 word rebirth, I feared that I what I knew about myself was false. Was I really born again? Was this God's way of telling me I had gotten it wrong, and I need to start over? All this plagued my mind until I grasped what He really meant by rebirth.

Why do I always jump to 'worst case scenario'? Why do I let the fear sneak in? Is it my flesh's way of having control? How often do I take a situation at face value instead of being open to His perception of things? How do I drop what I perceive to be 'acceptance'?

When I think acceptance, I instantly think of the five stages of grief. I've always thought of acceptance as the peace that comes after something terrible. Acceptance is something we earn after fighting through the other four stages, right?

Turns out that there are three other definitions of acceptance:

2. {the actions of consenting to receive or undertake something being offered}

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:11 NIV

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Psalm 84:11

The Lord doesn't withhold goodness from His children. Then, why did I assume that my opened palm would receive hardship or grief when He first revealed my word to me? This word acceptance isn't a warning for what will come, but it's an invitation to receive goodness!

Of course, that doesn't mean that there won't be hard things this year, because one, we live in a sinful world and it comes with with territory, and two, there is always tribulation when you are a follower of Jesus, but there is always more goodness.

3. {the process or fact of being received as adequate, valid, or suitable}

Man, do I ever struggle with this! The truth of the matter is that I am not adequate, valid, or suitable for the things of God or eternal life. Let me rephrase that: I, OUTSIDE of Christ, am not adequate, BUT:

• when I accepted Him as my Savior

• when I acknowledged that He died on that cross while wearing my sin and shame, thus eliminating it all

• when I understood that He rose from the grave

• when I became born again

I became adequate, valid, and suitable through His blood. Knowing it is easy, accepting it is something I still struggle with - maybe this year, with this word acceptance, I will get closer to doing just that.

4. {agreement with or belief in an idea or explanation}

Maybe this means that my perceptions of things will evolve to reflect Christ this year. I don't know for sure, but I am excited to find out exactly how this word will unfold.

Armed with this new knowledge, I will hold my palm out to Him with my new word laid up in my heart, and I will look forward to the good that I know He will press into it.