My word for 2019

Every year, I have one word that I focus on throughout the year. I usually pray about it and then wait for God to reveal it to me. Last night, as I was journaling God, revealed my word to me. My word for 2019 is: believe. 

In order for me to able to do God’s work, then I have to wholeheartedly believe in the purpose of it and God’s ability to bring it to pass. I also have to believe in my ability to do His work. I can’t follow the Lord while I am holding hands with the devil. I have to turn loose of my doubts so I walk after the ways of my Lord. 

God doesn’t want us to walk around with our head dropped feeling defeated all the time. He wants us to walk in faith, knowing with certainty that He can do the things we cannot do. The world constantly puts limits on our God, but with God, there are no limits. The reason that we don’t see great things happening in our lives is that we fail to ask Him to use us according to His will. 

God can take something small and bless it greatly. He can take one obedient and willing person and use him or her to make a great difference in the world. If we want to be someone who can help other people and lead them to God, then we have to believe that He can use us. 

When we kneel down to pray, we have to believe that God has the ability to answer our prayers in the best possible way. Before we could get saved, we had to believe that God had the power to save us. 

Mark 9:23 King James Version (KJV)

23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Matthew 19:26 (KJV)

26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

We also need to remember that it is God who puts the desires in our hearts. If He puts a desire in our heart, then He has a plan to bring it to pass. He will lead us and guide us every step of the way. So as the new year comes, I am going to trust God to help me with my beliefs. I want to get rid of all the lies of my enemy and replace them with God’s truth. 

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It's not supposed to be this way

The majority of my pain comes from my own expectations. Especially when I believe that something should have happened differently than it happened. All it takes is one moment of doubt for the enemy is get in my head. He pounces on my doubts and fears until they multiply. The bigger they become the smaller my God seems to me in my mind. If I’m not careful, I will start thinking that my problem is too big for God to handle. 

While God has a plan for our lives, He doesn’t share His plan with us all at once. If we could see all the hardships and obstacles that we will have to overcome in our lifetime, then it would be too overwhelming for us. Therefore, He only gives us what we need when we need it. Just because we can only see a fraction of our lives doesn’t mean that God can’t see it all. He knows everything that will ever happen to us. And He also knows how to help us.

It is so important for me to remember this truth. Sometimes life moves in an unexpected way. We all experience pain, loss, and disappointments. While these things often catch us unaware, God is very aware of what has happened to us, what is happening to us, and what will happen to us. Nothing is beyond His reach.

The truth is that I feel so small. When the storms of life rage, I do become afraid. As the enemy makes a lot of noise, it’s hard for me to stand still and wait on the Lord. It’s hard for me to kneel down and pray when the storm is raging all around me. It’s hard for me to wait on the Lord when I can’t see Him working in a big way. 

But, in my heart, I know that He is in complete control. 

During these times, it is so important for me to keep my eyes open and to search for His blessings. If I stand still, I can see His hand in it all. I can see my God in the little things as well as the big. We often miss the hand of God working because we are so absorbed in the problem that we can’t see His blessings. 

I love it when He reveals Himself to me in the midst of my storm. When I’m overwhelmed and fearful and He speaks His peace to my soul. The storms of life are going to come upon us. We can resist what is happening and even try to get away from it, or we can lean into it and to Him. 

Each trial has a purpose. God handpicks each one to mold us into the person that He wants us to become. He gives us each experience to teach us how to do His great work. Without our hardships, we wouldn’t be as humble or have as much compassion for others. When we’ve overcome our own storms, then we know how to help others do the same. 

We all have kindness, love, and compassion inside of us that someone in the world needs. 

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Out With The Old, In With The New

At the beginning of this year, I decided to do one thing per week that is bothering me. Whether it is to clear space in my closet or take a new course to learn something new, I want to move forward this year instead of merely treading water— trying to survive. I hate when I adapt the barely-get-by mindset. Not only does it affect me, but it also affects everyone around me. It makes me feel bad and causes me to act in ways that I don’t want to act. 

Ever since I made the declaration to myself, I have acted on it. I’ve realized as long as we hold onto the old, we can’t welcome the new into our lives. Especially when the old things take up our space. My phone wouldn't work properly because it was out of space. I had tried all sorts of ways to fix it, but nothing worked. When I decided, however, to delete the old off of it, I suddenly acquired plenty of space for the new things to be added. It’s the same way with my closets, drawers, and cabinets. Most are just clutter anyway. When I started going through them, however, I realized that I had forgotten about half of the stuff inside them and the other half was not serving me in any way. It was just taking up space in my life.

It’s the same way with our thoughts. As long as we hold onto our old thought patterns, then we can’t welcome new ones. In the same way, I examined each piece of clothing in my closet, I am examining my thoughts and asking myself these questions:

1. Does this help me right now in my life?
2. Does this limit me or inspire me?
3. Am I reacting with faith or fear?

When I break down my thoughts and only react with faith, then it brings more peace into my life. However, our fears don’t just disappear. They rear their ugliness in my life all the time. Last night before I went to bed, I decided to journal about my fears. With the first word, tears were falling from my eyes. I continued writing and crying for several minutes. When I finished writing them down, I asked God to help me overcome them. This morning, nothing on my list seems as devastating as it did last night. When we acknowledge our problems and become willing in our hearts to work on them, then I believe God will provide the way. Most often times we just need to turn our worries and fears over to Him and trust Him to help us deal with each one. Worrying about tomorrow’s troubles only takes away today’s peace. 

Love and blessings, 

Candida 

New Year, New Opportunities

It’s always exciting for me to start a new year. I love the opportunity to start over—with a new journal, the new list of goals, and as a new person. When the old year comes to an end, I am not the same person as I was when I started the year. In many ways, I’ve grown and changed and experienced so much more. Every obstacle and challenge has prepared me for the new year. Therefore, I want to do my part and do everything in my power to live the best life possible. 

I feel the best way for me to ringing in the new year is with prayer. I need God's guidance to be able to do what He wants me to do. The fact that I am alive means I still have a purpose. God is not finished with me yet, so I want to make sure that I am on the right course. When I evaluated my life in 2017, I was disappointed with myself. While I made progress in some areas of my life, I still know in my heart that I could have done better. Why? Because I did not give my all.

My focus word for 2018 is...success. My definition of success is showing up every day and giving my best effort—while doing the things that God wants me to do. I want to go to bed every night knowing that I gave everything that I had to give to that day. I want to know that I lived well, loved unconditionally, and used the gifts God gave me to make a difference in some life, in some way. I want to receive every day as a precious gift. I want to plan and use the most of it. I want to live intentionally, and take the time to love and be loved—instead of just aimlessly drifting through my day. I want to write more and share more of my life with you. 

At the end of this year, as I sit down to review my goals, I want to know that I gave my best effort toward accomplishing each one. The outcome isn’t as important to me as the effort. Because I know true success is when God blesses my efforts with His will. That’s when I can shine my light on Him and when I feel the most joy and peace in my heart. 

Do you have a word to focus on this year? I’d love to hear it and why you chose it. 

Happy New Year!

Candida