My One Word 1/4 Year Update : UNLEASHED

 

Wow, it’s been over a quarter of a year already. Time for an update on My One Word : Unleashed. It’s been one of my best words yet!

Here are some articles on what the One Word process is all about – I highly recommend having One Word as a theme for the year. It has given me purpose and helps me to reinvent myself.

• Take a peek into my one word process
• 4 positive results from reinventing yourself one word at a time
• Reinvent yourself one word at a time

I chose the word Unleashed because this was the year to be free!

Unleashed from:

• all kinds of fear
• worry and anxiety
• procrastination

Unleashed to:

• love God with all my heart
• write and publish a book – finally!
• pray effectively and intentionally
• do hard things (this is an affiliate link – which means that if you purchase the product mentioned I will receive a small compensation that will help to fund this website and continue bringing you faith based articles. It does not cost you any extra to purchase through my links.)
• worship God from the heart not just the mind

This is what I wrote in my journal at the beginning of the year:

I want to be unleashed from ties, bonds and yokes that are keeping me from:

• moving forward in my writing
• growing stronger spiritually
• being a confident woman
• being fearless

The only yoke I need is Jesus’

So how am I going?

In the past 3 months I have been unleashing from fear & worry and unleashing into prayer & writing.  It’s been an exciting journey. I am amazed at how far I have come in just a short time period.

Unleashing in prayer

I had two motivations to become more unleashed into prayer –

1. I am writing a book on Simple Prayer and
2. my sons are growing up and soon they will be leaving home – I felt the urgency to cover them daily in prayer as they make important life decisions.

I was concerned at the beginning about the balance between petition and treating God like a genie. I didn’t want to get into ‘asking’ mode all the time. I desired a natural communicating relationship with God that involved a lot more than just asking Him for protection and provision. God knows our hearts – He knew my desire was for a deeper relationship with Him. The Psalmist cry in Ps 42:1 was also the cry of my heart – “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you O God.” That is where I wanted to be – like a thirsty deer panting for the crystal clear, flowing streams – where I would come to daily (even moment by moment) to quench my craving for God. It starts with desiring more of Him – to praying for more of Him – to deciding that this is important enough to make quality decisions every day to spend time in communion with Him. The more I talk to God the more I want to commune with Him.

I have discovered the importance of starting every activity with a conversation with God. I am currently studying Ezekiel online using a PUP precepts study – it really sets out the way God works – His pattern of communicating.

Ezekiel starts with seeing God’s glory first then moves to serving Him.

He starts with knowing God in a personal way then moves onto doing things for God.

He starts with worship – discovering that God is a consuming fire – then moves to work – worship then work.

I am such a task orientated person and this discovery turns my world upside down. God wants me to see His glory first, to know Him first and to worship Him first THEN move onto serving, doing and working.

Prayer is first seeing God’s glory THEN seeking God’s grace

Over the past 3 months I have become convicted on how I read the Word – I love to read and study the Word but I didn’t take the time out to talk to God first before I read – for His illumination and wisdom.

“When we read our Bibles without pleading for the Spirit’s illumination, we betray a lingering confidence in our flesh that we can understand God’s eternal truths through the medium of our finite, earthbound minds” -Dwight Edwards “Releasing the Rivers Within” page 98.

The above quote struck home – how arrogant was I to think that with my mind I can understand God’s Word without seeking first the Spirit’s leading!

Unleashed from fear & worry

I have been aware for a long time now that I tend towards being overly concerned about my circumstances. Certain people in my life have highlighted this weakness of mine <smile>. Most of the time I was in denial about it – claiming that I wasn’t worried but just “concerned”.

Well, this is the year to beat worry out of my life. Basically the source of all worry is fear and the root of all fear is unbelief. If I truly believed that God has everything in my life under control – why worry? why be afraid?

I realised that this is the year that something needs to be done.

One of my sons is going work through Camp America for three months then travel (with no set plans!) for the last month before heading home. I see it having the potential of being a major source of all sorts of fear and worry! But that is not going to happen!

So, my game plan is this – I have decided that I am not going to live with worry anymore. Worry no longer is the theme of my thoughts or words. Whenever a worry thought enters I am going to banish it to God. To become unleashed from fear and worry involves a lot of communicating to God. It involves facing the truth of the situation in light of God’s words. It feels like I am at a training bootcamp for my mind! Hard going but I believe that as I continue to practice casting my care onto God it will get easier until it will peace will be my default mode.

Unleashing my writing

I have always wanted to write and publish a book – ever since I was a young girl who always carried around paper and pen to write with. But fear and excuses have kept me from it. I decided that this year was the year to face my fears and just do it! There has been moments when my mind dumps doubts on me and I think that there is no way that I can write and publish a book. But I don’t want to get to December 31st and feel defeated when another year rolls around without fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Last year I faced my weight issue and won! This year I going to face my fear and win also.

I now have a first draft of my book – Simple Prayer: The Guide for Ordinary People Seeking the Extraordinary and it’s off to the editor in a couple of weeks time.

The trick to staying on track is to keep my dream moving.

Don’t get stuck in the middle.

Don’t give up because things get too tough.

Keep moving forward.

The next part is the bit that I have been fearful off – marketing and publishing. I am going to just do it. 

Over to you…

What dreams do you still have unfulfilled?

I want to challenge you to make this year the year to fulfill those dreams – bring them into reality.

I would love to join you in your journey – please share in the comments below on what you want to really get done this year – is there something you need to be unleashed from or unleashed into?