Do You Have Your Theme Word for the Year?

Last year I wrote a post on coming up with one word or a theme word for the year. This is what I do each year instead of New Year’s resolutions. The idea is to come up with a theme word, preferably one that God reveals to us, that we will focus on for the year. The process to come up with our theme word consists of evaluating the previous year, spending some time in prayer asking God for direction, listening to God and paying attention during quiet times and bible readings, and looking for anything that stands out or has a pattern or repetition. Through this process (which could take a couple of days up to a couple of weeks), a word is revealed, and that sets our course and focus for the upcoming year.

Today I thought I’d share this recent process for me to hopefully give you a practical, tangible example of what that looked like in action for me.

First I started the reading plan again

Each year, I go through the 4-day devotional reading plan on the YouVersion Bible app, called “One Word That Will Change Your Life”. This plan gives more in depth instructions, daily meditation verses, and guidance on deciding my one word or theme word. I could probably do without the plan at this point, but it’s nice to have a step-by-step guide or plan to fall back on. I actually started this on New Year’s Eve this time which is a little earlier than usual for me.

I went in thinking that I probably wouldn’t come up with my word right away and especially not in the four days it would take to go through the reading plan. Primarily I believed this because that’s what happened last year! It took me a couple of weeks to really “find” my word because I really wanted to be led by God instead of just picking a word (even though that probably would have been just fine). Surprisingly, I settled on my theme word this year in just 3 days.

Lessons from the previous year

I’ve shared before that I’m big on journaling and taking notes, especially during quiet times and study times. So this step is fairly easy for me because I have my journal to look back on. I took some time to flip through and scan the pages from the previous year. As I did, I wrote down some of the lessons I learned. Here were a few of the things I wrote down…

• Give up! Give up trying to do and control things myself and hand the reigns over to God. Let God do the work—When I am weak, He is strong.
• Peace with change and new things (in new relationships, in transitions from losing old relationships, in the face of job changes and the possibility of relocation, etc.).
• Rest, relax, refresh. More time (i.e. downtime) for myself. I did LOTS of book reading this year for the first time in a LONG time. I’m learning to become more laid-back and less rigid and structured all the time.
• Learning new ways to pray and do spiritual battle (training and preparation for a prayer team I was on). I had so many answered prayers in this specific area.
• Many “back-to-basics” moments where I had to go back to what I’ve done before in times of struggle.
• More loving view of unbelievers and sinners…seeing them in new ways, seeing them the way God sees them, and becoming less judgmental and condemning of them.
• LOTS of removal of pride, lots of humbling.
• Stepping out of comfort zone in several areas.
• 2018 was a preparation year…nothing really big or major or difficult…I feel like it was maybe preparation stuff.

Looking at my previous theme word and how it played out over the previous year

As I flipped through my journal and spent some time thinking, I also specifically looked for examples of my 2018 theme word being played out. My 2018 word was “New”. Here are some things I wrote about how “new” took part in those lessons and more…

New attitudes: Peace, love, laid back, more adaptable and willing to accept changes, “giving up” and looking to God more, less judgmental and condemning

New lessons: prayer tactics and strategies, Biblical history and culture, new views of church, new ways of reaching younger generations, humility, my dependence on God, lessons in anger

New tasks: prayer team, book writing, teaching high schoolers, new roles, new relationships, new parenting struggles/strategies

New struggles: Fortnite 😛 and having a teenager!, co-parenting, pride, filling those new roles well, loss (deaths in the family), new struggles with church, feeling invisible and unimportant

Finally I wrote, “God is doing a NEW thing. He is making all things NEW. Forget the past—a NEW journey.” These were based off a couple of my life verses…

“The Lord says, “Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the NEW thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don’t you see it? I will make a road in the desert and rivers in the dry land.” Isaiah 43:18-19 (NCV)

“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things NEW.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:5 (ESV)

Spent some time in prayer and listening to God and to what came to mind

After looking back over the previous year and looking at some ways that God might have been preparing me for the upcoming year, I spent some time in focused prayer. I prayed, “God what do you want to do in me and through me this year? Please reveal your one word for me this year.” Then I stopped and listened.

I had two words come into my mind the first day I prayed: “Transition” and “Prepare”. A verse I read that day also stood out to me…

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.” Psalm 84:5 (NIV)

The phrase “whose hearts are set on pilgrimage” particularly stood out. So I spent some extra time doing some study on that verse and on the word “pilgrimage”. I looked at other translations, and I studied the original Hebrew translation and usage of the word as well. (That’s probably WAY more in depth than many of you will ever want or need to go! I’m just a bit of a nerd like that!)

Looked for repetition

During my time in some in-depth study, the word “journey” and “way” were coming up as well. I had a few more thoughts, phrases and verses come to mind during this process…

“Prepare the way for transition”

“Lead them home”

“Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming”

These brought to mind another verse which I then looked up…

“A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert.” Isaiah 40:3 (BSB)

Which then, because of its similarity, brought me back to part of my life verse…

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19 (NIV)

I’ll spare you all of the extra details of the Hebrew words and repetitions and patterns that I came across. However, I did see some repetition with this word “prepare”, and there was this theme that was starting to surface of preparing others and God preparing us/me. So of course I wrote all of this down in my journal (in addition to some other helpful insights)! 🙂

Finally settled on a theme word

I had a pretty good idea of what my theme word should be based on the previous couple of days. In my journal I wrote, “’Prepare’ is still standing out in my mind as my one word.” Then, I flipped back and looked over the previous days notes again and prayed some more asking God if “prepare” was indeed my word. Several things started to come to mind about how God might use the word “prepare” in and through me over this coming year.

Maybe God is preparing me for things that are going to happen in the near future? Could something new be coming for which I need to prepare (there we go back to that life verse and “new” again!)? Maybe I’m supposed to be preparing others for something? Then I thought, “Of course I prepare others! I do it every week…through my blog, as a parent, as a college instructor, as a youth leader, as a teacher in women’s ministry. It’s a primary part of what I do, part of my calling in life…to help prepare others!”

So then it was settled. “Prepare” is my theme word for 2019. I have an idea of what some of that will entail, but I’m sure God hasn’t even fully scratched the surface yet! I’m excited, and honestly a little scared, of what’s to come. Preparation isn’t always fun either, so I’m sure I can expect some not-so-good stuff too.

Now it’s your turn! What’s YOUR theme word for this upcoming year?

Take Some Practical Steps to Find Your Theme Word for the Year:

• First, go do the 4-day reading plan on the YouVersion Bible app (or Bible.com), called “One Word That Will Change Your Life” to use their helpful step-by-step process. It’s completely free!

• Next, think about and look back at the lessons you learned this previous year. Write them down.

• How might God have been preparing you LAST year for what’s to come THIS year? How did you see God at work in your life over the year?

• Spend some time in prayer. Ask God, “God, what do you want to do in me and through me this year? Please reveal your one word for me this year.”

• Then, stop and listen. Write down anything that comes to mind. Do some extra study if it suits your fancy!

• Look for repetition. Do you see patterns or repeated verses in scriptures you read or in thoughts that come to mind? Make note of those.

• Be patient. It was a true surprise that I settled on my word so quickly. Don’t feel like you have to have it nailed down in just a couple of days. Look for confirmation that you’ve found the word that God has revealed to you for your focus over this next year.

• Finally, once you have your word write it down (ideas at the bottom of this post here) or click here to get a free download “poster” of your theme word. Keep your word where you can see it somewhere. Focus on your word periodically. Pay attention when your word plays out over the course of the year and make note.

What’s your theme word for the year? Share it with us by leaving a comment below!

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If you know anyone that could benefit from this, please pay it forward!  Share this post via the sharing links below.  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV)