Keeping in Step in the New Year

A new year brings the prospect of hope. We pray for direction as we set goals for improvement or make resolutions to change habits.

We step out making changes and we want to make changes work. Share on X

One of the most popular approaches toward life change is choosing a word to focus on. DaySpring offers a quiz to find that word. It includes answering questions to see Bible verses you gravitate toward. Several questions relate to describing your personality, interests, and what you want to see happen in the coming year. The answers are compiled and the results yield a word for the year that connects with you. Several of my friends have taken that test. Others chose to ask God to show them a word through prayer, study, circumstances, and devotional reading. In one case, my friend’s word came to her on a sleepless night.

Back in the Fall, one of my friends knew “light” would be her word for 2024. She said, “Jesus is my light. He is the light of the world and I want him to be my light for living.”  She went on to share that she wasn’t sure how that would unfold. “Perhaps I’ll be in difficult situations, or I will have relationships that will be tested where I need to be a light reflecting Jesus. Maybe it will come as living in the light of God’s Word around me. We will see what God wants to do in 2024.”

Another discovered her word as a result of taking the quiz. As she answered questions, she  knew the word “trust”  would probably emerge. She was spot on. “I know I need to trust God more as He works out challenges in my life. I need to learn to trust God when things do not go as I want and when answers to prayer don’t come. Living in trust will be stretching, but I see it as growth and knowing God in deeper ways.”

As I was studying and reading,  I saw the word “acknowledge” over and over again in different contexts. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, “In all ways acknowledge him.” Acknowledge: to recognize, accept, and admit something or someone is important and worthy of attention.

Elementary and high school students in New York State,  recited a prayer after we said the Pledge of Allegiance. The  opening words were, “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country.”

Just think, decades later, I can still recite the entire prayer. What a way to begin the school day. I don’t think my ten-year-old self captured the significance of that prayer. Acknowledging God as sovereign and my ultimate source was beyond my comprehension. Now that I am much older, wiser, have more life experience, and understand biblically what acknowledge means, it is huge. So now as I try to keep in step by acknowledging, I see it as recognizing God’s authority and wisdom, accepting His peace when circumstances say otherwise, and knowing He is worthy of my attention rather than the acceptance of opinions or convenience.

• Who is God in my word, goal, verse, and resolution?
• How is He working in my life in that choice?
• Why have I chosen it?
• Who am I becoming as I want to live it out?
• How am I seeing change?

Can you add to these thoughts? How did you find your theme, verse, or word for the year? Share with us.

If you are widowed or know a widow, consider taking a look at Marilyn’s latest release, Hope for Widows: Reflections in Mourning Living and Change. Sixty-five readings offer connections in your grief, guiding you to hope, grace, and friendship on an unfamiliar path.