I realized a few years ago that new year's resolutions don't really work for me. I think that week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day is really one of the best of the year, and I always find myself reflecting upon the year that was while anticipating the year to come. And, while I don't make resolutions, I do take the time to consider all the Lord has called me to at home and family, my faith walk with Him and ministry, friendships, personal health and wellness, dreams. Where are there opportunities for growth and change? What is going really well? Or not so well? Why am I doing what I'm doing? How am I doing what I'm doing?
A couple of years ago, I began choosing a "word of the year." I gave thought to it, and it was always a word that was pretty significant in my life at the time. It's so interesting to look back at each year in light of it's "word." But this year I gave more prayer to it and asked the Lord what His word for me was. Because last year I began the year with a word I'd chosen, but it wasn't the one the Lord had for me. I knew by February that I had a new word. I needed a new word. My new word was FREEDOM, and it was life-changing. The Lord powerfully took the threads of that word and wove some things together and sewed some things up that had been so tattered and worn.
The word He's given me for 2019 is delight.
But you know what? When I found that verse in 7th grade, I really had no clue what it meant. You know what it DOESN'T mean? It doesn't mean if you're a good girl and obey God that He'll give you what you want that you think is going to make you happy. Let's just say that 7th grade girl had A LOT to learn (that 40-year old girl STILL has a lot to learn!). So over those next few years, did God give me what my heart desired? Nope. Not everything. But you know what He did? He CHANGED what my heart desired and brought it in line with His will and purpose and calling on my life. Oh yes, I sought to whole-heartedly obey and serve and love Him. And as I did that and asked Him to help me with that, I realized that only in HIM can the deepest desires of the heart be met.
So, yes, delighting in Him brought me to a place where the desires of my heart were met but only because He completely and totally transformed the desires of my heart to what He wanted them to be for me.
During my junior year in college, the Lord gave me another life verse. Psalm 37:4 was still there, but it wasn't my go-to anymore. And then in BSF we looked at Psalm 37 (penned by David) in light of what he was going through at the time he penned it. That still, small voice began to whisper, "Delight." Over and over. For the next several days. And I knew that was my word for 2019.
But, as usual, I wasn't ready to "write it down" yet. Because what if it wasn't? And then, of course, I got an email from a blogger I recently began following. She was sharing about her word of the year. Yep. DELIGHT. Wait, what? I thought that was MY word. I mean, we can't have the same word! So I began jotting other words down. I prayed for another day or so and then narrowed that new list down to only one word. I was sure THAT would be my word. I grabbed my concordance and looked up every verse in the Bible that contained that word (because I needed a verse!). And you know what? Guess what word was also in one of the very first verses I looked up with my new word? Yep.
DELIGHT.
Needless to say, I threw my "new" list in the trash, and I went back to Psalm 37:4. As I read the chapter yet again, I realized DELIGHT is not only is verse four but in verse 23 as well.
"The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way." ~Psalm 37:23 (NKJV)
That immediately brought to mind another verse I had later memorized in college so I turned there, too.
"The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great DELIGHT in you; and His love will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing." ~Zephaniah 3:17
Now, it's one thing for me to delight myself in the Lord. But IT'S A WHOLE 'NOTHER THING that God - the LORD - delights in me! I mean, I just can't get over it! Because it has NOTHING to do with me, nothing I've done or will ever do. Not a single thing ever. It has EVERYTHING to do with HIM! And that's a hard thing for people-pleasing-striving-for-perfection-always-trying-to-prove-myself kind of people. Like me.
So I knew right then and there that DELIGHT is, indeed, my 2019 word of the year. It's multi-faceted. Take delight in the LORD . . . and all He's called me to . . . and all He's entrusted to me . . . and all He's equipped me for. What does it look like to take delight at home, in my family, at church, at Bible study, in schooling? But, also, I need to remember that God Himself takes delight in me (this is part of the FREEDOM from last year). He is Who He says He is, He will do what He says He will do, I am who He says I am, I can do all things He has called me to through Christ and His Word is alive and active in me (Beth Moore's Believing God Bible study, which was totally life-changing for me in 2003).
And then I looked up Psalm 37:4 across multiple translations and paraphrases of the Bible. The New Living Translation sure was a sweet one. Take delight.
