You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 
Deuteronomy 6:5 
Dear Lord,

here we are — it’s the end of the month
we come with open hands, grateful hearts
for all the ways You’ve seen us through
every moment, each joy, tear or struggle
we thank You dear Lord
for grace upon our weary hearts
blessings that flowed to each and every part
mercies cascading from Your haven
wish we knew how to truly give thanks.
In quiet meekness, simple, authentic worship
all we know to do, offer as our gift
is our heart, soul and mind fully as we
move forward into this Christmas time and new year.

~Marcell Warner Bridges
©2015, All Rights Reserved.

As I reflect back on this year I am so grateful for every single aspect of it. There’s not a single thing I can think of that I am not thankful for. Even in the hard places—the times when I struggled or when someone dear to me was struggling.

 

I started the year with something I had never done before and that was to ask God for one word that I would focus on for the year. One word He would give me that I would let God teach and instruct me in how it applies to my life and my heart but more than that, my relationship with Him. (See January’s post My Word Focus for 2015 )

I felt God wanted me to learn what it meant to commit myself to Him and so for this very first word focus, my word for the year was commit. Boy did I have a lot of learning to do! Here it is, December 28th and I still feel like I have a lot more learning in this area. God took me from that one single word, commit, and transformed it into: I cannot commit if I am not fixing (focusing, giving all of my attention to) my eyes on Jesus, humbling myself before Him and obeying Him in all areas of my life.

Perhaps I will always be working on what it truly means to commit myself to Him. Not just my writing and editing career or even my health and weight issues, but my whole life. My WHOLE being. The very inner parts of me that I don’t want to expose to anyone and especially not to God. God has made it clear He wants every single part.

I do not have a word to focus on for 2016 yet. I cannot say if I will take this same focus into the new year or if God will show me something else He wants me to grab onto. But whichever way it goes, I know that He plans on weaving it all together and by the end of 2016, I will have a deeper understanding of who He is and who He wants me to be.

 

I hope you will pray and ask God for a word focus for 2016. It has truly enriched my life and my relationship with God and I know it will with yours too. And when you do find out what your word for 2016 is, will you share it with me? I would love for us to pray together as God instructs us in all wisdom and understanding of His Word into the very inner parts of our souls and beings.

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