One Word 2011: Grace

In 2010 I didn’t choose a One Word.  Instead my life and emotions took hold and my emotions decided my Word should be fear.  Fear seemed to take up residence in so many areas of my life.  I felt at times as if i was being defined by fear.  It took hold of me in areas it never had.  So I decided I needed to be defined by a different word.  A word completely opposite of fear:  Trust.

For 2011 I decided that I wanted to choose a word ahead of time rather than let one decide to define me.  The more I prayed about it the more I felt I was called to learn to live in a state of grace.  I am extremely impatient with people.  I often refuse to give them the benefit of the doubt.  I so often fail to have grace on them, but choose to bestow my silent judgment.

I want to be defined by grace.

Here are some of the things I’m planning to do over the next 12 months that will hopefully help me become this definition:

Memorize Scripture.  I used to be “really” good at memorizing scriptures when I had to for school.  Now that I’m an adult.  Well….  So one of the things I want to do is to memorize verses that speak of having grace & grace being upon us.  I am planning one verse/passage a month.  So that is 12 passages by 12.31.11.  Here are the verses in no particular order:

• Luke 6:35 & 36
• Proverbs 22:11
• Romans 5:21
• 1 Corinthians 15:10
• 2 Corinthians 1:12
• 2 Corinthians 8:6 & 7
• Ephesians 1:5-7
• Exodus 34:6
• Hebrews 4:16
• Colossians 4:5 & 6
• Ephesians 4:31 & 32
• Colossians 3:12 & 13

At the beginning of each month I’ll share which passage I’m memorizing.

Read books.  [links are Amazon Affiliate] There are a lot of really smart people out there.  People that God reveals Himself to and gives them an understanding of spiritual things.  These really smart people write books.  I am planning to read the following books over the next year:

• Generous Justice – Timothy Keller
• Grace Abounding In A Believer’s Life – Charles Spurgeon
• Compassion – Henri Nouwen
• The Grace of God – Andy Stanley
• Gracenomics – Mike Foster

If there are any others you would recommend please let me know.

Tomorrow I’ll share my verse(s) for January.

You can also see the other One Word posts that Alece has linked up on her site.

A winner:

The winner of the Story canvas is: Bethany.

Congratulations.  Please email me your address to prudy[at]prudychick[dot]com and I’ll get it out to you.