Depend on it

Last week, my supervisor (ok, more my friend than "boss") called me to a challenge. 

I needed to find a "word" for 2012. (To take Kelli's challenge, read her full post here. It's awesome. I promise. Hey, it inspired me so much I'm blogging about it!) 

Honestly, I have never found a word like that before. Sure I have had themes or big ideas for new season/years/chapters of life, but never really focused on a single thing or experience. 

So I began to pray. 

Here's the challenge for me. If I am not focused on prayer and being in God's presence, I start to think. And thinking leads to distraction. And distraction leads to focusing on whatever shiny thoughts I have in my head as opposed to what God wants to reveal to me. 

My thoughts started to flow. "Maybe it will be an exciting word like 'adventure.' Or a loving word, like 'compassion.' Or something inspirational, perhaps the word 'hope.'" 

This went on a for a few minutes until I realized I wasn't listening but rather doing this on my own... Again. Fail. <insert sigh here.>

Let's try this again. 

I sat, closed my eyes and began to pray. I thought of Kelli's challenge. I focused on the words I had read out of my devotional. I started meditating on Scripture that I had read recently.  I took a deep breath. Then BOOM. There it was.

DEPENDENCE. 

Dependence. THAT was my God-word for 2012??!? Huh. I began  to let it sink in. If this is really my word... it's going to be an interesting year. 

You might have picked up on this through my previous blogs, but I really enjoy having control of things. Which is why I struggle with letting go and letting God just do His thing in my life. I'm getting better... but apparently... 

I needed some work. 

DEPENDENCE. 

The longer I sat and let this marinate, the more excited I became. This WAS going to be a challenge... but one that I was interested in exploring. So, in my typical nerdy fashion, I grabbed my iPad and looked up "dependence" in the thesaurus. 

What I found there surprised me. 

Dependence: confidence, reliance, assurance, belief, expectation, hope, faith, stability, steadiness, trust, attachment, habit, subordination, yoke, craving, security blanket. 

Surprising, huh? Those words stood out to me... They all were some form of dependence and could certainly be applied to my 2012 journey. 

Confidence in Him. Reliance on Him. Assurance that he IS God. Belief in His faithfulness. Expectation of His promise. Hope of His plan. Faith in His love. Stability of Him in my life. Steadiness of Him to never fail me. Trust that He is with me. Attachment to God. Habit of spending time with Him. Subordination to Him. Being yoked with Him. Craving Him. He IS my security blanket. 

DEPENDENCE. 

I am slowly releasing it to Him. I will depend on Him in all things. I don't need control... I need Him. 

Yep. It is going to be a great 2012. We can DEPEND on it. 

With Expectation, 

SGK

What is YOUR word for 2012? I would love to hear it! Leave a comment here.

"My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge." --Psalm 62:7