My Word for 2020: Grow

A few weeks before the New Year, I began to think about and ask God for a word I can think about and pray into for 2020. He placed the word GROW on my heart.

Not too long after that, I took a quiz on DaySpring that is centered around finding a word for the New Year and got a similar word: BLOOM.

It may seem like a basic word, but I began to think about 2019 and God brought areas in my life that, after thinking about it for a little while, I realized I lacked in this past year. With His help, there are several areas that I want to grow in in 2020. Here are a few of them:

1.) Intentionality in friendships

Looking back at last year, I realized that I haven't done a good job at being intentional in specific areas. One big area is my friendships. God has really convicted me in this area since coming to college. I've realized I haven't done a great job at investing in people the way people have invested in me. I feel one big reason is the fact that I'm still somewhat shy and it can be scary for me to make the first move, whether it's simply sending an encouraging text or asking a friend to hang out over coffee. I've really struggled with the opinions of others for a long time. I attended a women's conference and the speaker touched on this topic. Here are a couple quotes that she said that stuck out to me:

"We need to be women who sew into the relationships around us."

"Be the friend you want to other women."

"How much time you invest will represent how much you feel invested."

This woke me up to the reality that I haven't done a great job at investing in other people and it's an area I want to grow in this year. God willing, I will swallow my pride and get over my preconceived notions and make the first step.

2.) Contentment

The young adult season of life is a very interesting one. As I look at my circle of friends, I realize we're all in different and exciting seasons. Some of my friends are married, engaged, or in relationships, while others are in the workforce. God showed that last year that it was very easy for me, a single young woman about to begin her last semester of undergrad, to compare my seasons to other people's and to wish I was in a season like theirs. I saw a quote a while ago said something like this: "we shouldn't compare our seasons to others because we don't know what they went through to get there." I don't always know the amount of heartbreak it took for someone to get to a healthy relationship, or the amount of rejections it took for someone to get to the position they are now. God has really placed it on my heart to just enjoy where He has me now in life and to use it as an opportunity to grow (there's that word again) closer to Him and prepare my heart for future seasons.

3.) Prayer

A while ago, God showed me how stagnant I am in my prayer life. I tend to go through the motions and pray for the same things over and over, daily. I'm challenging myself this year to pray big and bold prayers. Along with that, I want to start using a prayer journal or make a prayer wall that I can always refer back to. I've seen friends and people I follow on social media say it's really helpful for them, especially with remembering prayers. It's so easy for me to say to someone, 'I'll pray for you!" and then forget to pray for them. Keeping a prayer journal or having a prayer wall would keep me accountable and help me remember people's prayer requests, as well as look back at all the times God's been faithful in those requests.

4.) Wisdom/Discernment

We currently live in a world of "fake news." It's so hard to discern what is truth and what is not. Looking back at last year, I realized there were times I took things for face value without really going back to God's Word, the ultimate source of truth. I follow Girl Defined, a ministry run by two sisters seeking to promote biblical womanhood, and in one of their videos, they said how we should always go back to God's Word as the source of all truth and not take the things they (or anyone) say as absolute truth. This really made me think. I want to challenge myself this year to know and believe what God says on issues and not solely look to Christian influencers or society, that way I can discern what is truth and what is not.

Do you have a word for 2020? Let me know! May 2020 be the best year ever!