My word for 2018 was “Bravery.”  How to learn to stand up and speak out and yet be careful in my words.  I may not have always been as careful as I should, but I must remember that it was a learning ground.  Learning how to respect God’s ways and God’s thoughts.

I have learned that being brave means that sometimes I must stand alone and speak out what needs to be said.  I have also learned that being brave sometimes mean that I sit alone in silence.  But most importantly, being brave is learning how to do both filled with love and grace.  Not man’s love.  Not man’s grace.  But God’s.

As I enter into 2019, I have been given a task of sharing more words – whether I am standing or sitting.  I know not all that my Father has called me to – but I do know that I have been entrusted with words.

Some words will have a more biblical sound.  And yet, I am learning how to use words in a worldly sound.  It doesn’t seem to make sense.  But I know that it will as I journey down this new path in a sea of turbulent waters that I have not crossed over before.

In my last devotion of this year, 2018, I was drawn to the following words:

Sheer Joy never sounds more beautiful than when coming from the heart of an older woman who refuses to let life dim her expectation. (*)

I start a new journey in the morning.  I am excited.

I end with two thoughts and I also begin with the same two thoughts:

1. For now we see but a faint reflection of riddles and mysteries as though reflected in a mirror, but one day we will see face-to-face.  My understanding is incomplete now, but one day I will understand everything, just as everything about me has been fully understood.    – 1 Corinthians 13:12 (TPT)
2. Wonderful Words of Life

My Song:  Yes!  A favorite hymn of mine from so many years ago.  I remember singing them filled with a new believer’s heart.  That is how I want to sing them throughout the year 2019.

Wonderful Words of Life

(*) – #TheFirstSongsofChristmas