Oh that word of the year 2014……what was I thinking?
ENOUGH.
Enough what? When I reflected on my year of GRACE last year (2013) and searched my heart and prayed to God for what word would pull me in and hold me for another year, enough was the closest fit for where my emotions were at the time. Don't misunderstand, choosing a word for the year doesn't have to be rocket science or magic fairies dancing on your dining room table….it just needs to mean something to you and fit somewhere in your heart. For me, ENOUGH was a clear picture of what I had experienced during my mother's illness and subsequent death. I watched as she deteriorated and carried much of the brunt of letting her go, alone. Just when I thought I had … had enough, something else appeared and challenged me to take another big step that I didn't feel I was capable of handling.
Guess what? I made it through and although I'm a little tattered and worn….I am a lot wiser and hopefully a lot better at being the person God really expects me to be. I am enough.
It's funny though, the many ways the word enough played out like a Broadway show on the stage of my life this year. From too much time apart from my hubby to multiple home repairs….enough remained the perfect title to each performance. And just when I thought I had endured enough….
…I would be stretched a little farther because that's how God works (in many of our lives) and enough would suddenly become easier to seeking more.
God used my word as a spring board for my life (in many ways). It gave me a foundation, which was important for me to own the fact that as a woman, wife, mother & friend….I was enough! I was worthy and important. This gave me a validation that somehow along life's path I had pushed to the side. I'm probably not the only person to do this either. Society crams the success of other's down our throats and tricks us that we too, have to do something amazing to be enough. All lies. Each of us…..have enough and are enough! Stop chasing a perfection that you think will make you feel complete. It will never give you the peace you're seeking like realizing you are enough.
As the year comes to an end, I thank God for the ways He used the word ENOUGH in my heart and mind to grow me and love me…even when I resisted and boy, did I resist some days?! God kept at it anyway and I am blessed because of it.
Over the next few days, I'll spend some time searching for a word to claim as my own for 2015. Pray for me to be bold in asking …. it's easy to pick something safe. I know that out there on the water is where He is calling me and you…
2015…..is just days away, friends. Are you ready?