Each Year I choose a word (intentionally). 2019 I choose JOY, and when 2020 rolled around around I felt the innate sense that JOY needed to stay my word for 2020 AFAIN…..hmmmmm….I wonder why. But then December of 2020 rolled around. I try to be intentional with my word each year. Now I am not one to label events to a year and I am not about to do that with this circumstance either. First let’s go back to November, the beginning of November that is.
That’s when I decided what 2021’s Oe word would be……
Low and behold I had no idea what in the world was about to happen. We had a great Thanksgiving and first week of December. I was in full swing of planning for 2021. And the very first Bible Study of 2021 was scheduled to be Intentional Gratitude.
And then I woke up the second Wednesday of December and life swirled out of control….(I’m gonna spare you all the extremely gory details) but it involved the first of 3 emergency room visits and life came to a screeching halt.Since that day I have had 3 emergency room visits, 5 Doctor’s visits, 2 emergency procedures, 1 MRI, 1 CAT scan, 2 Ultrasounds, 2 overnight stays in the hospital (that’s 4 total hospital visits total…..and warning TMI moment 11 attempts at…NEVERMIND…..its 11 attempts at something that was excruciatingly painful for me and that is all ya really need to know.
……and I found myself smack in the middle of needing to be intentionally joyful and intentionally grateful because life had me in so much pain that I required Narcotics and Jesus. Yes you read that correctly.
Originally I had areas I “planned” on being intentional in. But I have become ever more aware of how God’s plans are not my plans and His ways are not my ways.
My plan was intentional…
- gratitude
- service
- family time
- blog
- home
- relationship with Jesus
- hubby
- relationships with others in general
If you know me some of those things come naturally. Like service- it’s one of my spiritual gifts .
But since all of this has Happened I have had to reconsider some and add others.
- service for me is an “active” thing- and right now action is not something I can do very much of. So service has taken on a different look- right now it is heavily rooted in prayer and texting and phone calls ( oh wait that’s been a lot of 2020!!!)
- Taking care of our home has not been something I can do right now. It took all of my strength and energy tp write out our weekly menu and grocery list.
- My relationship with Jesus has jumped to a whole new level….more on that in a later post.
- I’ve added intentional “REST”. Sometimes that requires sleep and other times it means stepping away because my body is so exhausted. Exhausted currently holds a whole new meaning for me and I cannot yet put it into words.
- intentional emotions. Emotions in these situations can spin out of control, especially when extreme pain is wrecking your whole body.
- Intentional breathing- NO JOKE. when you are in extreme pain you forget to take deep breaths and I am so grateful for a friend who would remind me over the phone to control my breathing and take deep breaths. It’s these practical reminders that can calm a very serious situations.
- Intentional honesty- admitting where I am at. It’s easy for me to ask people and care for others in their situations but it’s another for me to say here’s where I am at and I’m really struggling with. I have a great group of friends I can do this with. No judgement because they REALLY know me. (They don’t just think they know me or my intentions) and in those moments they are so gracious and willing to share truth not just pat answers. One of them shared a devotional that really reminded me to really think on what I know NOT on what I am feeling. (More on that later too)
In closing
I want to leave you with my verses for the year
I fully believe that I am in full swing on really learning what these verses mean. It’s one thing to know “what “they mean. I know WHAT they mean but it’s another story to take these verses and fully apply them to our lives- that the difference between knowing and living God’s word (aka is the Bible a textbook to you?) HA another post!! coming your way….I think all of these count as intention blog posts!.
Well Let me know what your word and verses are for the year in the comments below!
