The Year of Unafraid

“Focusing on intentional thanks — forces those fears to shrink in the face of His Grace. -Ann Voskamp

I chose a word last year for intentionality. You know, something to focus on through the year that I knew would help me grow and become more of who God made me to be. The word was “grateful.” I wanted to start seeing everything — every.thing. — as a gift from God. To see each circumstance, each moment as something God allowed even in all of His sovereignty and grace and goodness and kindness and love. Even the difficult and the bad and the confused.

So I started thanking God for what He had given me in the right now. Instead of begging him during the bedtime prayers for no barf through the night or the next day, I started thanking Him for the health we had right then, while we prayed, even if someone had barfed that day. (Clearly, I have issues with barf, no?) Not so coincidentally, I had received the promise for Ann Voskamp’s book 1,000 Gifts for Christmas that year, and as soon as it hit the shelves, it was in my hands. I’m pretty sure God gave me that word to focus on last year. I’m so glad He did. (Yes, grateful, even.)

So I’ve been thinking about a word for this new year. Another year, another word to sum it up with. And here it is — unafraid. Because I don’t know all that the the year will hold (I mean, really, does anyone?), but I know there will be some major changes and unknowns to face. Because I’ve struggled with fear for much of my life and I’m done doing that. Because God, in His Almighty, promise-keeping faithfulness, has freed me up from so much of my anxiety issues and yet I still find “afraid” to be a part of my vocabulary somehow.

And here’s the really amazingly God-is-sovereign kind part of this whole thing … The unafraid follows the grateful. It’s a natural outcome of joy-finding, this unafraid, done-with-the-fear living.

So I say bring it! I’m ready for the year of unafraid.

Do you have a word you’d like to sum up the year 2012? I got the idea from Ann Voskamp at www.holyexperience.com. (I like her, can you tell?)