My One Word for 2015: Persist

How did we suddenly get to the last couple of days of the year??!! My focus on Advent this year resulted in the coming New Year sneaking up on me. I’ve seen a few blog posts and mentions around social media that started my thought processes in that direction. This morning I had the mental space to pull those thoughts together and spend a bit of time in prayer. Seeking God’s direction for my focus for 2015 was paramount in my processing of the end of 2014 and the start of 2015.

In the 31 Days writing challenge I participated in for October, I reviewed the goals that I had set for myself around being intentional, my one word for 2014 (If you aren’t familiar with the concept of using one word to focus on for the year instead of New Year’s resolutions, you can find out more here and here). I don’t feel the need to rehash a review again. In summary, I feel that God established a good grounding in me this year with some new habits established and a clearer view of who I am in Him and what living for Him looks like in my season of life. I was tempted just to use the word “Intentional” again for 2015 as it is still a work in progress but this didn’t sit right. 

As I sat in prayer this morning, bits and pieces of Scriptures and blog posts that I had read consolidated into a focus for me. Don’t you love it when God uses seemingly random writings, images and conversations to pull together a message that speaks directly to your heart in that moment?! The disparate ideas of standing firm and keep walking were competing within me. Keep on keeping on. Develop consistency in the habits established. The deep sense that God is calling me to do what I am already doing in this season. All of these fall under the word I have settled on for this year: persist. It doesn’t do away with my focus areas of 2014 but builds on them. 

One of the areas that I want to persist in is my Scripture memorisation. I certainly couldn’t quote word for word all 48 of the ones I sought to memorise this year, but the truth contained in them is there. For 2015, I am joining Beth Moore’s Siesta Scripture Memory Team. I joined this challenge in 2013 as well but only lasted about half of the year. I am really excited to give it another go this time around. It will actually mean fewer Scriptures tackled for the year but I think this will mean a greater chance of actually committing them to memory. I will create my own graphic for each one for my wall though as I found the visuals of Ann Voskamp’s Scripture memorisation challenges to be extremely helpful (read more here). 

Here is my spiral notebook all ready:

I feel at peace and content as I contemplate the end of this year and the beginning of the next. That isn’t always the case so I am very grateful. 

How about you? Have you thought about what you want to achieve in 2015? Are you participating in either the One Word or SSMT?