New Year’s resolutions do not work for 9 out of ten people. It is amazing that so many people do it, even with a very low success rate. We are a week into the new year, are you still keeping yours? I personally gave up making them a couple of years ago. I also gave up making goals, but that is another post. Instead of resolutions, I now do the One Word campaign. It’s very simple, pick out One Word that can help guide your decisions or actions for this year. You can use it to help focus your life. The right word can guide you to lasting change.

I also like to tie my One Word to a verse for the year. At my church, we get to stand and tell everyone our year’s verse. Two years ago, my word was Courageous and my verse was Joshua 1:9 – “Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid…for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” It was helpful for me with all that I was facing. I made numerous life changing decisions that year, and with each decision, I asked myself, is this Courageous? I wanted to stop making decisions based on fear, that is what I had been doing my whole life. Then last year, my word was Forward; my verse was Exodus 14:13-15. I blogged about that experience with God telling me He had everything under control, I just needed to keep moving. I just needed to Go Forward!

I have been thinking about 2018’s word for a couple of weeks now. My previous words were from Israel’s journey from their captivity to their promised land. I felt I was supposed to stay with this theme again. I know I haven’t fully reached my promised land. I am out of the captivity I was in, but I know I haven’t fully arrived yet. I am not where God wants me to end up. But for the first time, I can see the plan that God has for me. And honestly, it is overwhelming, exciting, and scary at the same time. I am sure that is what the children of Israel felt when they were on the border of the promise land. God told them to “Possess the land” but they refused the first time. Because of that, they journeyed through the wilderness. God gave them their inheritance, their land, but they refused to possess it. They saw all the difficulties, hardships, troubles, and obstacles that laid before them. They did not have the faith that God had already gave them the land, they just needed to possess it!

So, as you can tell, my word for 2018 is Possess. My verse is Deuteronomy 1:21 – ‘Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; do not fear or be discouraged.’ I realize that it is an unusual verse to have for the year. I am sure that I will be the only one to use this verse. But it has everything in it to help me. It is telling me that God has set everything up for me, but I need to possess it! That does not mean it will be easy. Obstacles will surely come up. But as I have found out the last couple of years, the obstacle is the way. The verse then tells me as ‘God has spoken to me’. I believe he has given me a vision, I must continue to act on that vision. Then the last part, do not fear or be discouraged. This theme is in all my yearly verses. Fear kept me from reaching my full potential earlier in my life. I did not have the faith to overcome all those fears. So, as 2018 starts, I know I am at the border. I can choose to wait, and maybe have to wander the wilderness cause of my fear. Or I can be courageous, move forward and possess all that God is giving me!