For several years, I have selected a One Word to focus on throughout the year. The words always seem to gain depth of meaning as each month passes.

This past year, my word for 2023 was Guide. The truths this one word brought along the way have become most precious to me. Here are a few highlights from my One Word 2023 – Guide.

• The year began with this quote:

  “Always stay open to the guidance and instruction of God’s Word. God will speak to you through Scripture as He leads you through your trial. Keep trusting Him and He will accomplish what is best for you and what glorifies Him.” (from Prayer, Praise & Promises by Warren W. Wiersbe, page 363)

• Do not ignore God’s commands. He will always guide, advise, and watch over us (Proverbs 13:13-14).

• God has not left us to figure life out on our own. He has given us His Word and His Spirit to engage with us, providing guidance along the way. God guides His people today through His Holy Spirit, Who resides within us. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” (John 16:13, NASB)

• God not only provides the breastplate of righteousness to protect our hearts, He also guides us in the paths of righteousness. “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3, NASB)

• Our God not only is lovingly looking over our world, His creation, He is lovingly looking after each one of us. There is not a day He has not been guiding, protecting, and providing for us. “Mark this – God is our God forever and ever, guiding us to the end.” (Psalm 48:14)

• God will provide guidance through His Word which is truth. It is not an opinion, it is truth for all time and for all people. “Each morning David meditated on the Word of God and God guided him.” (Psalm 143:8, NASB)

• Unfamiliar area. Surely this is where we find ourselves in this moment of time. Political contentions, global tensions, wars, Israel under attack, disunity, misinformation, and confusion surround us. The lyrics to an old and familiar hymn brought much comfort:

“All the way my Savior leads me
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His faithful mercies?
Who through life has been my guide
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort
Ere by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whate’er fall me
Jesus doeth all things well.”

• The early church in Antioch prayed and fasted in order to understand exactly what the Lord would have them to do. How should they move forward? Who were they to send out into the mission field? They did not rely on their own understanding, intelligence, preferences, or wisdom. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6, NASB)

• And then December came. The season of Advent. Of waiting. There will never be words to express how precious Jesus was to me during this past season. It was a month of prayer and utter dependence of Jesus to get through the days, moment by moment. Waiting for the darkness to dispel and the light to come. Some days it was small shards of light which brought hope, but hope flickered all month. This song became my daily prayer, somehow even becoming a Christmas song.

Guide – One Word 2023.
So very grateful for Jesus –
the One who has been my faithful Guide and
led me all the way.

Today I may be joining … Tell His Story and InstaEncouragements .