Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

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"You crown the year with Your goodness,

And Your paths drip with abundance."

Psalm 65:11

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I had great plans for this post to include a video teaching.... but well life! I have often struggled managing priorities, what should come first where does it all fall in line?

Why am I even sharing this with you. LOL! Because today the first fruits of my day, my year, I gave to the Lord, studying His word and looking for Him! I don't think there was anything better I could've done. I tell you because I have often misaligned ministry to Pressed Olives and put it before everything else. I tell you because even though I love you, I love what we do here, it can never be first. Jesus must ALWAYS be first.

My prayer for you, for me, for us is that the Lord would crown our year with His goodness, and that His paths for us would drip with abundance! Don't these words just evoke such beautiful imagery? Paths dripping with abundance, a year crowned with God's goodness...

The word crown is derived from the Hebrew word atar which means to surround. Crowning you is to surround you, shield you (for attack or protection), to crown you (literally or figuratively). It also means compass, to obtain, bring-about, achieve, or comprehend.

This little verse is saturated with so much hope! Filled with God's character and His dream for you! Please soak it in, don't rush by. Hear God's words to you. I want to translate it:

God surrounds the year with His goodness, He goes before you, He will be your rear guard, He surrounds you and walks beside you (Matthew 28:20, Isaiah 52:12, Deuteronomy 1:30, Psalm 125:2, Psalm 139:5). God's goodness is unlike what we would deem good. He knows the depths of our heart, mind, and soul and determines what we need to be whole and right before Him. Not all that we would consider good is God (Proverbs 14:12, 1 Kings 3:9). God crown the year with HIS goodness, not ours. And HIS paths drip, overflow, and spill over with abundance. The path He chooses and directs me to will be full of abundance. Not the path I'm on that I invite God to, but the path He chooses for me. There is a difference, I'm learning.

Take your time and read through these verses. I hope they help expound your understanding of God's goodness. It's not just an action, it is His character, and He invites us to reflect Him and become as He is.

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"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."

James 1:17

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;

Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!"

Psalm 34:8

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."

Galatians 5:22-23

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever."

Psalm 23:6

"being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;"

Philippians 1:6

"I would have lost heart, unless I had believed

That I would see the goodness of the Lord

In the land of the living."

Psalm 27:13

"Oh, how great is Your goodness,

Which You have laid up for those who fear You,

Which You have prepared for those who trust in You

In the presence of the sons of men!"

Psalm 31:19

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I have always shared my Word of the Year (WOTY) with you. This year sort of caught me by surprise. To be utterly transparent with you I had slacked on getting into God's word for just me (I had often done it just for you). I sat down to S.O.A.P. after committing to God to put Him first, I had put good things in His place, which in turn made them not so good things. I sat down praying God would reveal Himself to me in His word, to feed me a fresh Rhema word and well He did! He always does. My word(s) this year are Cultivated Friendship. I am so excited to unveil new levels of friendship with God this year. We will never be perfect, but we are being perfected.

This is my second year making a vision board for my word of the year. I print it and put it up a few places that I'll see it throughout the day, bringing it to mind- but mostly it is a call to action. There are actions and behaviors here that I plan on engaging with daily. Can I be real? S.O.A.P. fits into so many: trained, skilled, quality time, drawing near, meditating on promise, faith, wisdom, obedience, voice of God, and love in action. I plan to S.O.A.P. more this year than I have any year before. I plan to be consistent in drawing near to God this way. I hope you'll engage with Him this way too!