What just happened? Ready to jump start your new year?

Did you leap out of bed with a roar this morning? Okay, maybe it was just me. See, I had this crazy dream that the Minnesota Vikings beat the New Orleans Saints in overtime…

Oh, wait…

But seriously, it wasn’t just the excitement of so much great football over the weekend, but the anticipation of my first Monday of the year. I spent the weekend finishing up my dreamboards, prioritizing and planning out my first quarter of 2020, and I could feel the roar of excitement building.

But you know what really got me excited for this year?

My word. The one I felt God press upon my heart. The word that will frame my year.

Last year’s word did me in. It was LIGHT, and I thought…oh, I’ll be a light to the world. Nope. I mean, maybe. But really, God showed me that HE was MY Light. And…he is here to take my burdens. Make mine light.

I had cancer last year. I don’t right now, PTL. But God so much carried me and my worries through all of the surgery and treatments. Hello, light.

So, yeah, this year’s word has me pretty excited. It’s Flourish.

When I think of the word flourish, I think of my peonies. The time I didn’t kill them.

When I dove into the definition of flourish, I found this. First, from Webster’s dictionary:

To develop; to make thrive; to expand.
The waving of a weapon or other thing; a brandishing; as, the flourish of a sword.

I like to believe we, as writers, are flourishing our words…using them as a weapon against darkness.

And of course, as the founder of Novel.Academy, my vision is to help writers develop, to expand their voices.

But, in Hebrew, the word flourish means peace, or shalom, in every direction. To know shalom is to know God’s favor and God’s gracious presence in all areas of your life.

And Psalm 92 is all about flourishing…

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.

As I see it, so much of flourishing is about tending the garden, about being a good steward of the fields. About trusting in God, deep in your heart, and letting Him bring the fruit.

Lots to be excited about, right?

I’ve been seeking the Lord for one yearly Word for a decade now and each year He brings me deeper into an understanding of not only that word, but Himself. And it’s something that always spills out into my writing.

Have you been led to One Word for the year?

We’ll be talking a little about finding that word, as well as prayer targets—along with sooooo many other planning strategies for the upcoming year in our Brilliant 2020 webinar.

It’s our yearly FREE Peptalk, and this night only we open our doors and let you peek inside our Thursday night class/hangout/party. (7pm CST) It’s fun, you’ll meet some very cool writers and we’ll help you plant your seeds for an amazing 2020.

Join us here (and you’ll get a free jump start planner when you register!)

It’s going to be a great year, friends.

Here’s hoping the one word for the Vikings is…Superbowl. (*sigh*)

See you Thursday night!