Today I pasted words.

My friend Erin sent me all these cool little pieces of art last year, and I’m still fascinated by them. I began flipping through them. As I did, four words stood out to me.

Play.

Health.

Freedom.

Abundance.

I believe this is what God has for me this year. He wants me to play, to become as a child, but this time as a carefree, wild-haired, messy-kneed child who laughs with abandon. I’ve never really been that child, never really felt the freedom of that. Until now.

He wants me to live in a place of health. I’ve been sickly my entire life. Frankly, I’m tired of it. So I’m doing what I can do. I’m running again. I’m eating right. I’m resting more. I’m trying to understand my rhythms so I don’t burn out. I’m realizing how closely the state of my emotions is tied to the state of my health. I’m asking God to heal my heart again and again.

He wants me to be free. Free from the dark shame that strangles life. Free from expectations, of my own extreme perfection expectations and the unsaid expectations of others that I try to meet (even if they don’t really have expectations! I even assign folks expectations! How crazy is THAT?). Free from the “have to’s” and the “shoulds” that rule my heart. Free from the tyranny of a monstrous to-do list. Free from that feeling that I’m unlovable. Free. Free. Free!

And God wants me to understand abundance. I have a proposal out there with publishers about this very topic. My mind and heart can’t quite grasp it, but I sense I’m beginning to smell the fragrance of abundance in my life. I hope I get to write that book. But more than that, I hope I get to grasp the surprise of God’s abundance today.

What words is God speaking over you today? Grace? Hope? Healing? Forgiveness? I pray He’d wrap you tightly in His arms and whisper them in your ear. And then accomplish each word.