For many years I was not the type of person who had a “word for the year” every January. Honestly, I didn’t think God spoke to me clearly enough for me to have a word.
That began to change at the end of 2023. My husband and I had attended a wedding and on the way home we stopped for dinner. While we were eating I shared a scripture from Psalms that I felt God had given me for our family. The Psalm was 1:3 and my husband pulled the word ‘fruitful’ out of it. He explained that he had a feeling 2024 would be a fruitful year for us, so we adopted that word and for the first time ever, I had a word for the year.
Fast forward to the end of 2024 and I wanted God to give me my own word for 2025. So, I asked Him. I wrote in my journal, “I want this word to be a focus and a promise for 2025. In fact, I’d love for the word itself to be a promise, but I don’t want to pick it. I want You to pick it. Would You also give me a verse to go with it?”
As I sat waiting for His response, I heard the words “Liberated” and “Liberating King.” Instantly I knew that would be my word for 2025. I also remembered that I had read a verse about the Liberating King, so I looked it up. Galatians 3:13 reads…”the Anointed One, the Liberating King, has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.”
I was so excited about my word. I was thrilled that God had not only given me a word, but in true character, He had given me a word that held promise. He didn’t leave out the verse either. All because I had asked.
Even as I rejoiced at His faithfulness, there was also a bit of a question. After all, a person can’t be liberated unless they are first held captive. So a few days later, I asked God another question. “What do you want to liberate me from?” Truthfully, His response did not come as a surprise as the word fear filled my mind.
I have been afraid of people since the third grade. When I was eight years old, I was rejected by another girl in my class who did not want to be my friend. I still remember her first name, her last name, her nickname and her face. I was so confused as to why she didn’t want to be my friend. I was a nice girl. I had never done anything to hurt her; why didn’t she like me? At that young age, I had the first taste of rejection and it was bitter and painful. And I became afraid.
All of 2025 has been about overcoming fear. As I began hosting 61 Minutes in my home, all of those same fears of rejection resurfaced. Questions such as, “What if they don’t like me, what if they think I’m stupid, what if they don’t come back?” filled my mind. Yet I kept going. I kept facing the fear, showing up to the group, opening the front door to the women who arrived. Each time I made that choice, a tiny piece of that fear fell away.
Although 2025 is still in full swing, the greatest fear I have faced thus far came in conjunction with the South Asia mission trip. At first my fear was about being uncomfortable. I didn’t want to sweat. I didn’t want to eat with my hands and I definitely didn’t want to eat spicy food. But the Lord would not relent. I threw every excuse in the book at Him and still He persisted. I was to go on that trip.
About a month before we left, the fear shifted to near panic. One day as I was researching to see if vaccinations were required I stumbled upon a travel advisory that had recently been re-issued for the country we would visit. It specifically stated that women should not travel alone and that acts of terrorism in tourist locations were a threat. Immediately, fear began to wage war on my mind. I was terrified. What if something happened and I didn’t make it home to my family?
I wrestled silently for over a week. Stupidly, I think I reread the travel advisory three times, as if the information was going to get any better. I finally reached out to the team and we actually spent about four days praying and reconsidering whether we should go.
Throughout those days of prayer, my mind was a chaotic mess. I could barely focus. I would swing back and forth between thoughts and feelings of, “God will surely protect us,” to “What are we doing? Of course we can’t go!” After two full days of that, I began to fast and pray. I had reached my mental limit. I had to hear from God. I couldn’t find His will on my own.
The turning point came in a conversation with my husband on the third day of that week. He had been praying with me all week, but he had purposely said very little on whether I should go because he didn’t want his own thoughts and opinions to taint mine. As I was driving home from work that day I had a conversation with him. Our team planned to meet the following evening to make the decision together and I told him that I needed to know his thoughts before I went to the meeting. After all, if I didn’t make it home, he was going to be left to raise two kids on his own. His response was shocking to me. He said, “I have no fear of you going.”
At that moment, a shift began to happen. If my husband wasn’t afraid of me not returning, why was I? I began to consider that perhaps God was giving me another exercise in overcoming fear. Perhaps I was to trust that the God who so clearly spoke and told me to go months before had not changed His mind and would indeed protect me and bring me home safely.
The following morning, confirmation came. A friend who had also been praying and knew nothing about my conversation with my husband texted our entire team the following words: “As I have been praying about your trip, I feel the Lord has shown me that He wants to lead you in this through your husbands. Tell them all the concerns and let them show you what His leading is.” At that point I had my answer. I knew God’s will had not changed. I was still to go. I was still afraid, but I was also still to go.
As I continued to pray and prepare for the trip, the fear was slowly replaced by a renewed desire to serve and minister to the women overseas. My focus began to change from the fear itself to a desire to be an instrument God could use to bring freedom to the women who were broken and wounded due to their society and life circumstances. I prayed and asked God to help me clearly hear His voice so that I could speak into them despite the language barriers and the cultural differences.
Just as God was faithful to give me a word for the year, He was equally faithful to answer my prayer that I might be His instrument. Each time it was my turn to teach, share my testimony, or pray for someone, God was faithful to give me the words to speak. Isaiah 30:21 says, “Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go,’ whether to the right or to the left.” That verse came to life for me as God gave the direction I needed.
But that’s not all. Each time I stepped out to do as I felt He was leading, fear began to fall away. For the first time since third grade, I stopped caring what others would think and stopped worrying about rejection. I had clearly heard God’s voice and I was going to obey His leading regardless of what the people around me thought. For the first time since third grade, I felt freedom so, so deeply. I felt joy. I felt peace. I felt liberated. It was sweetest feeling. I don’t even have the right words to describe it, but something inside me changed and I don’t want it ever go away!
Friend, God is faithful. His will doesn’t always make sense. I certainly questioned it when it came to taking this trip! Yet, His will brought a freedom that I have longed for nearly my entire life.
My question for you today is this: what do you long for? From what do you need to be freed? Will you trust our faithful Father to liberate you?