Write Thinking: 2012 Reflections & My Word for 2013

The Mayan calendar, so it would seem, was wrong. The earth keeps turning, and we are still on it.

For a number of Decembers, I have made it a practice on my Write Thinking blog to recap the year that is ending and then to share the word the Lord has given me for the coming year. I see no reason to break with this tradition. So here we go!

2012's Word:

Fear not! It turned out to be just exactly the word I needed. No surprise. So it has been, year after year. There were circumstances that arose during 2012 when my first instinct was to be afraid. And always these words would come to me: Fear not! Through them, I was reminded that God is in control, that He loves me more than I know, that He is caring for me and looking out for me, that He is refining me and changing me. Through these two words, God calmed my spirit again and again.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
(2 Timothy 1:7, NLT)

Bible Reading & Study:

I broke with the reading habit I've had since 1997 (reading the whole Bible through in odd numbered years and reading the New Testament three to four times in even numbered years). In 2012, I hopped around in my reading of the Bible. As for serious study, in BSF I finished the study of the Book of Acts and I am halfway through the study of Genesis. I also completed the Beth Moore studies To Live is Christ (started in 2011) and Esther.

My 2012 Releases:

I had two new books released this year and had one out of print book brought back as an ebook.

Heart of Gold (Thomas Nelson, February 2012)
Speak to Me of Love (ebook from Ten Talents, October 2012)
Betrayal (Zondervan, November 2012)

Books Worked on in 2012 (in various stages):

Betrayal
Speak to Me of Love
Autumn's Angel, novella in A Bride for All Seasons (June 2013)
Beloved (September 2013)
Bounty of Silver (February 2014)

Favorite Movies Seen in 2012:

The Hunger Games
Lincoln
Flight
Les Misérables (I wept and wept)

Favorite Books Read in 2012:

A Wreath of Snow by Liz Curtis Higgs
To Whisper Her Name by Tamera Alexander
Shakespeare's Lady by Alexa Schnee
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas (actually am not finished but it is still one of my favorites of the year and will likely be a favorite of 2013 too; a very long audiobook, close to 24 hours of listening time)
How Do You Kill 11 Million People by Andy Andrews

My Word for 2013:

Ever since I began the practice of asking God for a word for the coming year, He has given me just the right one. But, while I have been conscious of my words and I've known God was using them in my life, this year I want to go deeper. So I have chosen a journal to keep just about my 2013 word. I want to intentionally pursue the meaning of the word in my life in as many ways as I can discover from January through December.

I used to be a great journal keeper, but I think email and blogging have syphoned off many of the words I might have written down in a daily record. I'm hoping that focusing in one notebook on my word for 2013 will bring me back to some of the deep writing I used to do.

And now … {{drumroll}} … my word for 2013 is: QUENCHED

Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." (John 4:13–14, NASB95)

Thanks for spending some of 2012 with me, both here and on Facebook. I appreciate you all and I pray that you'll have a wonderful, prosperous, healthy New Year.

~robin