the year of: faith.

~ Laura N. ~ Leave a comment

Seven years ago, my word of 2013 was light.
Six years ago, my word of 2014 was release.
Five years ago, my word of 2015 was nourish.
Four years ago, my word for 2016 was presence.
Three years ago, my word for 2017 was authentic.
Two years ago, my word for 2018 was hygge.

Last year, my word for 2019 was no.

This week, I pondered whether or not I even wanted to do a word for 2020. I’ve not really been paying attention to the words I used the last few years – sometimes doing the opposite of what I had hoped. Then this word showed up in several places and I decided to keep a word for 2020. This might be my last ‘word of the year.’ And it is a word that I want to keep for the rest of my life.

This word?

Faith.

The last few years have not felt as joyful as years prior. The last few years have felt more bitterness, stress, doubt, exhaustion, chaos, discontent, anger, and disappointment than years prior. They have been good years. Nothing terrible has happened to me. I’m healthy and well. But my soul is restless and drained.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. – Hebrews 11:1

I need to have more faith in God.  In everything that happens in my life.

For me, FAITH is:

  1. putting God first.
  2. trusting God with everything.
  3. not worrying because God has a plan that is greater than mine.
  4. knowing that there will be hard times. we are not promised a happy life on Earth.
  5. staying away from things that aren’t beneficial to my growth (whether this be certain foods, social media, movies, whatever).
  6. peace.

Here’s to having more faith this year…..

january freeze.

~ Laura N. ~ Leave a comment

I thought I would take the time to post a mini-update at the end of the month to share things I have been up to, thinking about, etc. My intention is to do this at the end of every month this year, but we know things don’t always go according to plan.

  • I finally finished my classes back in December!! Because of this, I feel like I have more time on my hands. I’m also getting the paperwork done to officially earn my certificates in this state and get my Rank I! Woo-hoo!
  • I have been going to the gym regularly, aside from a few missed day due to weather. It feels so good to be back into that routine. (And no, this wasn’t a ‘new year’s thing — we have been going since November.)
  • Jigsaw puzzles are my addiction. I think this happens every winter season but I’ve been especially addicted lately. I’ve already re-done all the ones I have (about five) and bought a few more.
  • The child is at an age now where he wants to do things independently, and can do it. This adds to that ‘feeling’ of having more time on my hands. Although I’m still running after him all day long, he is able to take care of some things for himself (cleaning up, throwing things in the garbage, etc.) and that helps so much. I’m also so proud of him for being the awesome kid he is.
  • Speaking of my kid, I am still marveling at how fast language acquisition is and how well he can string words together into multiple sentences. I love that he can answer questions, ask me for things, tell me things he sees, tell me things he hears (this helps me a lot!), etc. We still need to work on his signing, though.
  • There is a lot of sickness going around. I was planning to write that we’ve avoided it this month and are anxious for February to see if we continue to avoid it, but the little one woke up miserable with a fever today. He was tested and sure enough, has Flu A. At least he’s handling it really well!
  • Most of the area has been impacted by the crazy sub-zero temperatures this week. We’ve been keeping warm but also going out to get some ice cream from Dairy Queen!
  • Let’s talk about Sabbath. The Lord commands that we rest on the seventh day of the week. Some of us are really good at resting a lot, and some of us, not so much. This is a commandment we are breaking all the time! As much as I like to rest, I always have something that needs to be cleaned, taken care of, whatever. Lately, I’ve been more intentional about completing tasks during the week and on Saturdays, to leave Sundays open to whatever. Each Sunday this month has been a restful day with my family — playing, exploring, being together. We even found a few geocaches, which we haven’t done in awhile! These Sundays have been marvelous and precious. I pray this pattern continues. Thankful.

Things weighing on my heart:

  • Missing people. I don’t know whether it’s the age we live in with the increasing ‘connection’ in social media or what, but it appears as there are more and more people missing each day.
  • So many unkind words, locally & nationally, from all kinds of people. I am disappointed with friends, colleagues, acquaintances, society, etc. (This is also making me look at myself more critically. We must remove the log from our own eyes first.)
  • Pro-abortion laws. There is no justification for an abortion. I have prayed for the women who consider this decision. I will continue to pray for them.
  • “American Christianity.” False teachers of the Bible. These teachers and teaching are infiltrating our churches and our society more than we know. I see it in my own church too, and struggle with it constantly.

Cheers, friends.