Word of the Year: Overcome
I took the Word of the Year quiz on Dayspring and received “Overcome”. The quiz itself is a seemingly simple with only seven questions but they do make you ponder.
For me it’s quite powerful to have Overcome come up as my word of the year. For the past few years I have been praying for The LORD to rid me of my fear. I am fearful of a lot of things that I shouldn’t be.
Many of you have heard me joke of being deathly-afraid of the ocean and sharks…mostly the sharks and things that can kill you and I tend to make it into something to laugh about…but it’s also very, very true. I used to be incredibly shy; fearful of what people would think if I talked or what if they ended up not liking me?
Thankfully, that is one fear I have been slowly overcoming but it still haunts me everyday. Some of those same feelings of fear still come up but I’m slowly learning that yes, sometimes you say stupid things, sometimes people don’t like you…but I’m learning attempting a friendship hurts less than wondering what it would have been like if you had started a conversation with that person. These are just two of my fears that I feel comfortable sharing publicly.
But there are others that fill my soul and distract me from focusing on the power we have through Jesus Christ. I memorized 2 Timothy 1:7 as a little girl…and yet my stupid self still forgets to live by the words.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV)
What a great verse…my soul rejoices as I read “but of POWER and of LOVE and of a SOUND MIND” (emphasis mine) but hours later forget those very same words. sigh The battle of fear is a life-long battle but seeing the work Jesus has done on my fear of connecting (/shyness) is an encouragement. (He’s powerful enough to help me win the battle!)
During the quiz, it displays a list of verses and asks you to chose your 2021 verse to help them find the word. The verse I chose for 2021 is:
So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For The LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you. - Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)
Another great word: Courageous and another word I have been praying to be throughout 2020 and 2021.
Courageous means “not deterred by danger or pain, brave” and I’d go on to add “not deterred by fear”. It’s important to note that it implies that danger, pain and/or fear is present in the situation…but it isn’t deterring (slowing down) the person from their mission or task.
Which means you could read the verses as:
“So be strong and do not be slowed down by danger, pain or fear. Do not be afraid and do not panic before them [enemy forces or in our case fear].
For the LORD your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”
Deuteronomy 31:6 (with my own translation and emphasis)
Another fear was “messing up" this leather bound journal with my handwriting when I purchased it back in 2015. (For $5.99!!) I filled the last page of my previous prayer journal on 12/31/2020 and decided 2021 was the time to finally use this journal. How fitting that it starts on January 1st 2021!
Funny note…Some of my friends (that I’ve met in the past few years) are shocked when I tell them I used to be even more quiet/introverted then I am now!
