My Word for 2021 (and how to pick your own!) – Hf #311

This is my 7th year picking a word for my year. Last year I expressed that I always love picking my word for the year but I had difficulty in picking one for 2020. Well that's true again this year. I thought and prayed about it a lot but I think I landed on the perfect word for my year. So today I’m sharing my new word for the year as well as some tips for picking your own word for this year. Here are my past words:  2012: Intentional 2016: Joy 2017: Create 2018: Refresh 2019: Faithfulness 2020: Cultivate Listen to the Podcast: We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both  And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer. What has gone into choosing this word: When picking my word for 2020, I was looking ahead to what looked like an extremely full and weird year. We were looking ahead to selling our house, having baby #6, and buying an RV and starting to travel around the U.S. full time. And now we are almost 7 months into that travel journey. But of course, we had no idea what else 2020 would have in store. So I've been praying a lot these past months on what 2021 will have in store for us. I know now more than ever that I can't control what the future holds. But I can hold fiercely to joy and peace this year for my own life and family. More than ever, I need to make sure that MY priorities are crystal clear. I need to make sure that when things in the world get crazy and the days might be hard, that I am standing fiercely in the hope of God's Kingdom. I need to make sure that God's priorities are my true priorities. For my own personal goals, for my family, and for our business. It's something that Jason and I have been discussing a LOT and praying about a LOT. And so all of this has led me to my word for 2021... Kingdom. I want more than anything for 2021 to be Kingdom focused. I want Kingdom focus in my personal goals, my parenting, my marriage, and my business. I want to make choices, pray about decisions, and walk boldly into 2021 with this Kingdom focus. So what does this mean? Got Questions explains that God's Kingdom is: "Broadly speaking, the kingdom of God is the rule of an eternal, sovereign God over all the universe. Several passages of Scripture show that God is the undeniable Monarch of all creation: “The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103:19). And, as King Nebuchadnezzar declared, “His kingdom is an eternal kingdom” (Daniel 4:3). Every authority that exists has been established by God (Romans 13:1). So, in one sense, the kingdom of God incorporates everything that is. More narrowly, the kingdom of God is a spiritual rule over the hearts and lives of those who willingly submit to God’s authority. Those who defy God’s authority and refuse to submit to Him are not part of the kingdom of God; in contrast, those who acknowledge the lordship of Christ and gladly surrender to God’s rule in their hearts are part of the kingdom of God. In this sense, the kingdom of God is spiritual—Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36), and He preached that repentance is necessary to be a part of the kingdom of God (Matthew 4:17). That the kingdom of God can be equated with the sphere of salvation is evident in John 3:5–7, where Jesus says the kingdom of God must be entered into by being born again. See also 1 Corinthians 6:9." So to me, what this brings to mind is twofold: Christ is reigning over the cosmos. He is in control of all things. He is not afraid for what tomorrow will bring. He knows and he sees it. His Kingdom reigns over everything. From the small everyday concerns we deal with to the overarching global pandemic that seems to make the world crazy. Because Christ is reigning over the cosmos,