Word of the Year 2014

{photos by Julie Christine Photography}

I am so excited to finally announce my word of the year for 2014.  It's taken me a while...in between raising a busy (yes, she's actually busy now) toddler and simply trying to stay awake through these exhausting pregnancy days...But here it is:

NEW!

NEW! NEW! NEW!

The Bible has a TON to say about NEWness.  It's something I love most about my particular faith: it's not about trying to REform, but being TRANSformed.  When Jesus came into my life - or when I allow Him control over an area of my life - He takes the old, burns it away (painful...that's what He was busy doing last year), and makes something NEW and more beautiful, more amazing, more divine come out of it.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” 
– Ecclesiastes 3:1

New year.
New baby.
New family.
New normal.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!" 
- Isaiah 43:18

New goals.
New purpose.
New intent.
New meaning.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 
- 2 Corinthians 5:17

New relationships.
New conversations.
New connections.

New perspectives on old things.

"I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven."  
- Philippians 3:14

New thoughts.
New feelings.
New actions.
New heart.
New ME.

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you."  
- Ezekiel 36:26

That is SO what I need this year.

Last year, I did a lot of hard emotional work.  I'll continue to press forward with that work, because it's in valuable.  And, sometimes that work means simply submitting, surrendering, letting go.  There has come a season in my life (as one who is committed to self-improvement) in which I will finally get to take a deep breath and reap the benefits of all those tears.  Reap the new joy of all that sorrow.  Reap the new lightness of all that heaviness.  Reap the new respite of all that diligence.

 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The

 old has gone, the new is here!” 
- 2 Corinthians 5:17

*EXHALE*