my OneWord 365 surprise

This post is part of January’s syncroblog on “New Beginnings.” Be sure to check out the link list at the end of this post for more great content on this topic.

I didn’t think I was going to have a word this year.  I don’t know that I’ll succeed in blogging about it any more successfully than I did  last year (which was…um…pretty much once).  But as it turns out I do have a word for the year, which means I am back on the OneWord365 train after all.

I’m not sure how I found it.  Really, it feels more like it found me (read: hunted me down).  I didn’t want it.  It’s scary.  But it’s going to be good.

photo courtesy of ©Depositphotos.com / PetarPaunchev

It’s freedom.

Freedom. 

Freedom to say what I actually think.  Freedom to do the things I know God is calling me to do, without being quite so afraid of what people might think.  Freedom to simply be myself – and learning to be okay with it if people don’t happen to like me, or what I have to say.

Freedom from all the “shoulds” and “should haves.”   Freedom to be, right here and right now, in this moment – dealing with what is; embracing it; learning from the tough stuff;  rejoicing in all that is good.

Freedom from self-condemnation.  Freedom from old patterns of thinking and behavior that won’t get me anywhere new.  Freedom to believe that God really does love me, wholly and completely, just as I am.  Freedom to become the person He is helping me become.

Freedom to say no to things that I don’t want to do, or even to good things that I wish I could do, in order to say yes to the things that are better.  Freedom to say yes to better balance and more time spent with my closest friends.

Freedom.

Freedom to find out where I’m not actually living freely – and letting Him set me free.

Something tell me it’s going to be a really interesting year…

“If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.” – Jesus (in John 8:36)

Here are the other posts in January’s synchroblog on “New Beginnings“.  Happy reading!

• Jen Bradbury – Enough
• Abbie Watters – New Beginnings
• Cara Strickland – Bursting
• Carol Kuniholm – Acorns, King, Beloved Community
• Done With Religion – A New Year, A New Beginning
• Kelly Stanley – A Blank Canvas
• Glenn Hager – Overcoming The Biggest Obstacle To Reaching Your Goals
• Dave Criddle – Get Some New Thinking
• David Derbyshire – Changed Priorities Ahead
• J A Carter – The Year of Reading Scripture for the First Time
• Damon – New Beginnings: Consider These 5 Questions Before Tying The Knot
• Jeffrey Kranz – Where To Start Reading The Bible
• Joanna990 – On survival – my one word for 2014
• K W Leslie – Atonement
• Happy – my One Word 365 surprise
• Michelle Moseley – Ends and Beginnings
• Matthew Bryant – A New Creation
• Liz Dyer – It’s a new year and time to make some new mistakes
• Edwin Pastor Fedex Aldrich – Foreclosed: The beginning of a new dream
• Jennifer Clark Tinker – Starting a New Year Presently
• Loveday Anyim – New Year New Resolutions
• Loveday Anyim – New Year Resolution Dreamers
• Loveday Anyim – New Year Resolution Specialists
• Loveday Anyin – New Year Resolution Planners and Achievers
• Jeremy Myers – Publish Your Book with Redeeming Press
• Amy Hetland – New Beginnings
• Phil Lancaster – New Beginnings
• Mallory Pickering – Something Old, Something New
• Margaret Boelman – The Other Side of Grief
• Kathy Escobar – one image