2013 Word of the Year

I am extremely tardy posting this.. but not as tardy as 2012. I was looking back to see all the words I have chosen since starting this tradition of having a word of the year... 2008 was the first year and my word was Gratitude (I never posted it here)... 2009 -  Peace... 2010 - Change ... 2011 - Choice ... 2012 -- Less / More .. I never posted about it!  Needless to say 2012 was not a good blog year... I really did not put the time and energy into it that I needed to. Hoping 2013 will be better.

So now on to 2013's word... I have known what my word would be for a while.. really before 1/1/2013.. God started speaking to my heart about it months ago...  the word is KNOW.

Know.... might seem an odd word, but there are several aspects of it that God is working in my life.

First off... an rather obvious.. is a need to KNOW Him... not just Know about Him but really Know Him.  The Hebrew word for Know is Yada and it means to know .. well in the Biblical sense... Adam knew Eve.. to be intimate with someone. Now I am not talking about sex .. I am talking about knowing someone so deeply.. so intimately.. like a husband and wife know each other.. that is how we are to know God .. what I am striving for in my relationship with Him this year.  To Know Him more... deeper... in ways I have never known Him before.  And I will confess that the thought of that excites me and scares me.  I have grown in my relationship with the Lord most in the difficult times.... and I fear the answer to that prayer.. to know Him more.. might require a walk through the valley.. but I also know it will be worth it, if that is the path He has chosen for me.

Second... as I think of wanting to Know Him.. to Yada Him.. I am struck by the reality that He already knows me that intimately.  Read Psalm 139!  In fact, He Yadas me more than any other person / being ever has and ever will... more than my parents.. more than my children.. my best friends.. even more than my husband, who knows me better than anyone else on this earth.  No human can know me the way and to the depths that God knows me.. in fact, I don't even know me as well as He knows me!  Mind boggling, isn't it!?  This year I want to grasp that.. to realize I don't have to hide the real me.. to pretend to be who I think He wants me to be. I can trust Him with all of me because He already knows Me.. and He loves me even in the messed up state I am in.

Third.. I want to Know His Word more.. some of that is practical knowing.. I am striving to dig in and study more.. to memorize more Scripture this year.. but again, I am striving for something deeper. I want to Know His Word not just in my head, but in my life.. I want to see it at work and KNOW without a shadow of a doubt the realities of it. When I say that God will supply all my needs I want to KNOW that to my core.. when I say He will never leave me or forsake me, I want to KNOW it without a trace of doubt... I want His Word to be a part of me... as Hebrews 4:12 says, it is living and active.. I want it to be living and active in me.

So I am striving to KNOW more this year... not just head Knowledge.. heart knowledge that is walked out in my life and that glorifies God so that others see Him and not me.

I want to be able to say with Paul...  

I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  (Phil. 3:7)