Remember

Can you believe we are already almost through the first month of 2016?!  As we round the corner into the final week of January, I am only just now sitting down to write my first blog post of the year.

Did you make a New Year's resolution? Are you still going strong, or have you already slipped once or twice? Either way, there's no judgement here...I didn't even make one!  Sure, I have many specific goals for 2016 - physically, to get back into half-marathon shape; financially, to finally achieve our several years-long savings goal that will enable us to pay cash for a new vehicle we've been dreaming about; relationally, to celebrate others in a way that is meaningful and personal; and spiritually, to spend daily time in the Word and work on memorizing scripture regularly.  We have several fun trips already on the books for 2016 (including a tropical getaway with my Love next month...more on that later!) and a bitter-sweet sendoff for one of my own family members who is literally moving across the world (that will be another blog post entirely as well). It is already shaping up to be an exciting year for Team Peek, and I can't wait to see what adventures 2016 will bring.

A few years ago, I heard of someone focusing on "one word" for the new year, instead of making an actual "resolution." I thought this was an interesting concept, so I decided to try it.  What I found, was that my one word indeed shaped my whole perspective throughout the entire year, and so I have done it ever since.  How does one come up with "one word," you might ask? For me, it has always been a word I felt God gave me specifically. Did I hear it in an audible voice or see it written in lights? Not at all.  My past years' words have come to me through a consistent theme I've noticed in conversations, songs, or a specific Scripture that jumped out at me when I read it.  It's been a word that I chose because it was something I prayed to receive and believe the Lord placed a specific word in my heart and on my mind; however, you don't even have to be a "religious person"  to practice this approach (sidenote: I don't actually consider myself "religious"... I am not a fan of religion. I am a fan of Jesus ; )   It simply can be something you want to focus on intentionally in a new year... a theme of sorts, if you will.  

Some recent years' words have been Redeemed and Brave, for example.  Redeemed was a word that was significant for me in at the start of 2013- I didn't quite understand it at the time, but throughout that year, the themes of redemption and freedom played out over and over. In my relationships, my thoughts, and in Scriptures that I kept landing on during my time reading the Bible, I knew that this word, "redeemed" was significant.  It also happened to be the year I became pregnant after a season of waiting, and later we named our child based on this theme of redemption and freedom.  Brave was the word I felt God gave to me last year, in 2015.  I am still processing all the ways in which this word impacted my year, but I can see it in the way He helped me be brave in the small things - opening my home to a weekly Lifegroup (which was a big deal for this Type A perfectionist, who struggled with opening up our midweek mess up for everyone to see) to crossing the street and learning about my neighbors' lives. I also found the word Brave to be significant in bigger aspects of the year, as 2015 was a year in which I met some of the most brave people in the world- my pediatric patients who so bravely fought cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.  I learned so, so much from their battles and from their lives, and God certainly used them to shape my own. 

As I turned the page into 2016, I prayed about what my "one word" would be this year.  Several things came to mind, but nothing really was sticking.  So, I actually reached a point where I stopped consciously thinking about it and simply started dreaming about what the year ahead might bring.  Slowly, but surely, I began to notice a theme that God was placing on my heart.  Every time I started thinking about what the future might hold and questioning where He was taking me, my mind always wandered back to the past, remembering where He had brought me in different seasons of my life.  I started remembering the adventures, including the highest highs and the lowest lows.  God was gently reminding me to honor His faithfulness through remembering the past, even as I looked forward to the future.

Last week, as I picked Charlotte up from the nursery after our church service, I glanced at the card that the nursery attendants always give parents, with information regarding their child's temperament that day, details about diaper changes, and type of snacks.  I typically glance at this, thankful for the information, but not finding it necessary to keep after reading.  But this time, as I literally went to drop it in the trash after seeing that Charlotte had been "playful and happy" with a snack at 9:00 and a diaper change at 9:35, something else caught my eye.  Across the bottom of the card was a "Scripture of the week" - a verse that I have never really noticed before. 

"I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your miracles." Psalm 77:11

Remember.  This is my "one word" of 2016.  It doesn't mean I want to live in the past; rather I want to remember where I have been so that I can see where I am going.  I want to remember God's faithfulness and honor the journey He is taking me on. 

We will be moving forward, full speed ahead, to see what 2016 has in store for us. But we will not become too busy or too focused on the future to reflect on the past. 

We will remember.

-L

Sunset over Santorini, Greece 2011 - A favorite memory