Word of the Year Wednesdays - New Peace

I’m finding that there is a certain peace that comes with accepting the new person you are becoming. There is a peace I find when I let go a little more of the past, when I loosen my hold on my dreams. There is a peace in knowing that a little more each day I’m becoming the person God always knew I was going to be.

I don’t think I could adequately describe how new and deep this peace is. I’ve always been a people pleaser, I’ve always wanted people to like me and I never wanted to disappoint anyone. And to some extend all of those things are still true about me, but in light of choosing to keep my eyes more focused on Jesus, to seek His approval over people of this world, and through gaining a greater understanding of how I’m always a work in progress - that slowly but surely He is making me new, well its been a game changer.

Peace was always an elusive fruit of the spirit for me. I could feel happy or peaceful in single moments, but I didn't really know what it was to rest in His peace. It’s a new favorite place to spend my time. A little more peace in the chaos of this world.

I don’t know if I’m doing a great job of explaining how this related to my journey with new, other than to say this is a new experience for me. I expected to be anxious and face trails when I picked new as my word. I was sure I was going to be placed well outside my comfort zone throughout the year. But I didn’t anticipate that part of the journey would include this new understanding and experience of peace.

It’s pretty awesome.

I wish I could share a magic equation or an easy two step guide to finding peace, but I can’t - it doesn’t exist. I can only say the more time you spend with Him, the more you follow His leading and choose His ways over yours, the closer you’ll be to experiencing true peace.

I pray that each and everyone of you have the joy of experiencing the true peace that can only be found in Him.

To Everything There Is A Season…

Kiley Ann

Word of the Year Wednesdays - New Adventures

Happy Wednesday Friends! I hope your week is going well so far and that you are enjoying the journey you’re on. I took a week break from blogging and it honestly was a little weird. I had things I wanted to write about, but I was worn out. So I took a short pause. While I wasn’t writing a lot has been happening and I have been making some exciting choices.

I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating, I don’t like change. I like staying well within my comfort zone and passing on anything that would require me to leave its boundaries. That being said, an opportunity presented itself to me last week. It was one that would take me out of my comfort zone quite a bit.

I wasn’t surprised how easy it was for me to talk myself out of taking the opportunity. There was the initial excitement of trying something new and then the voices of self doubt started appearing. The million reasons why I should just let it pass. I was tempted to quite a bit. I walked away for a couple of days, but I couldn’t shake it.

It was over the course of those days that my word “new”, kept coming to mind. I knew that when I selected my word of the year that there would be things that would test me and help me to grow. I also knew that I wasn’t a big fan of the growing process. However, if I am praying for a new dream to follow, I think it is going to require doing things I wouldn’t have normally done before.

So, I said yes. I’m about to go on a new adventure and yes, I’m a little anxious about the whole thing. But I’m also really excited. I’m excited to see how saying yes to this new will impact me. I’m excited to see it forms new dreams for the future.

I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes in a couple of weeks. But even if it turns out to be a disaster, I’m still proud of myself for trying something new. I’d covet your prayers for peace and determination to keep walking through the doors God is opening over the coming weeks.

Maybe He’s calling you to walk through a new door too - let’s go on this adventure together.

To Everything There Is A Season…

Kiley Ann

Word of the Year Wednesdays - New Mercies

Happy Wednesday Friends!

I have found there is a struggle to be fought when you’re asking God to make all things new. That the things of the past - the old - don’t always want to go quietly. Instead, they are often loud, like a toddler throwing a tantrum. Sometimes you just want the noise to stop so you give in, just like giving the toddler the piece of candy they wanted. The noise stops, but in hindsight you are actually defeated.

You have to push through the noise to get to the other side, to the point where they stop yelling because they know they aren’t going to get what they want. When the old doesn’t get to win another battle. And that victory is a sweet one.

It’s hard to walk toward the new when the old is clinging on for dear life. There are most definitely times when the fighting through doesn’t seem worth it and so I give in.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22 - 23

It’s in those moments. When I’ve regretted taking the easy way through, that I am so thankful that these verses exist. That God’s mercies never end and are new each morning. That God is faithful to stand with me as I try again. And try again I must. The old must go for the new to come.

To Everything There Is A Season…

Kiley Ann

Word of the Year Wednesdays - Old Made New

Happy Wednesday Friends! I hope your week is going well. I’m trucking along with my study of the word new. I’ll be sharing some scriptures soon that deal with my word and what I’m learning, but this week I have story to tell you.

You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed

Psalm 139:16

I know this verse well and have found comfort in it numerous times, but on the daily I don’t put much thought into that truth. That before a single day of my life came to pass God knew how it all would go. He knew all the big and small things and He weaves things together in a way only He could do. This week I was reminded of how awesome He is at doing this.

15 years ago I was a young girl, who followed a boy, to a town I had never been to before. While nothing come to pass with said boy, I did meet and develop a sweet relationship with a lady who could be described as your quintessential church mom. She was the absolute sweetest and welcomed me with open arms. I was only there for 10 months, so we only had a short season together, but it was pretty great. When I moved we fell out of touch like people do when they don’t see each other regularly.

I’m a big believer in people being in your life for certain seasons, some seasons are short and some last a life time. I cherished the memory of our time together, but I never thought I’d see another season with her. Yet, God is full of surprises.

Turns out that her and her family have just moved to my town. And I had the pleasure of spending the day reconnecting with her this past week. I cannot express what a blessing it is know we are starting a “new” season together. It’s quite amazing that God knew when we said goodbye 14 years ago we were really just saying, “See you in a little while”.

This week I learned that God can take something old - a past friendship, and make it new again. And that He has surprises for me when I least expected it and need it the most.

I’ll be praying for you this week friends, that you might see a little glimpse of how God weaves all things together. And that maybe you’ll be surprised by something He does in your life this week too.

To Everything There Is A Season…

Kiley Ann

A sweet friendship refreshed the soul.

Proverbs 27:9

Word of the Year Wednesdays - New Wine

I know it’s not Music Monday but this song speaks perfectly to the hope I have this year. What I want to believe can happen this year. This song speaks about God making me something new. It speaks about new wine being poured out of me. It talks about surrender. It talk of the freedom that comes with being made new.

The song is “New Wine” by Hillsong Worship. Give it a listen.

I started listening to this song a year ago when I thought new was going to be the word of the year in 2019. I thought it was amazing how this song landed in my lap and matched so beautifully with my word. The more I listened to it, the more I began to struggle with this verse. I couldn’t tell if I really meant it or not (spoiler - I didn’t).

“So make me Your vessel
Make me an offering
Make me whatever You want me to be
I came here with nothing
But all You have given me
Jesus, bring new wine out of me”

It was a beautiful verse, but I wasn’t honestly ready or willing to say make me into whatever you want me to be. I still had plenty of ideas on what my life should look like and I was still willing to fight and work for them. It didn’t sit right to say, “Okay God, whatever you want is fine by me.”. I mean I knew it should be that way and I literally could say those words, but I knew I wouldn’t mean them.

Honestly, I still have an image in my head today of what I would like my life to look like, but it’s an image that’s mostly blurry. It’s blurry because I want to be open to how God wants my life to look and I realize it might be different than I always imagined.

Being able to sing those words and mean them are key for me. I don’t want to sing/pray for something that I don’t actually believe. Once I could say that I wanted God to do those things with my life I got excited thinking of the next verse.

“'Cause where there is new wine
There is new power
There is new freedom
And the kingdom is here
I lay down my old flames
To carry Your new fire today”

So many new things are promised. There is so much hope when you lay it all down - when you give it all to God and choose to move forward with His fire leading the way. When you’re letting go of the old it’s an incredible comfort to know how amazing the new can be.

I’m hoping to discover that new power and freedom this year. Friends I hope that you too can lay down your own flames and carry new ones.

To Everything There Is A Season…

Kiley Ann

Word of the Year Wednesdays - First Thoughts

“Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad. But it’s the middle that counts the most. You need to remember that when you find yourself at the beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up, and it will too.”

~ Hope Floats

One week in and I’m already reminded of how much I dislike new things. I’m a fan of things being how they have always been, unless the new somehow is better in every aspect.

I dread walking into new situations or having to make small talk with people I’m just meeting. I think that might surprise some of you who I know outside of the internet. I know I can come across as someone who is confident in talking with anyone and isn’t afraid to step up to a challenge. But honest truth, I fight through each and everyone of those situations. I would much rather let someone do the talking and kinda float in the background.

This really became apparent to me as I am currently preparing to meet a group of new people this week. My first thoughts were the dread of the small talk I was going to have to make, and all those self-conscious thoughts that are sure to invade my head when I enter the room. What do they think of me? Did that sound stupid? Do they like me? Do I like them? Do I really care what they think?

I really had to spend some time this week thinking through why I felt that way and how I could look at new things differently. I came up with a few; I can view new things as a chance to grow in uncomfortable situations. They are also an opportunity to strengthen my relationship with God. The truth of the matter is that He will be with me in that new situation. His opinion is the one I care about. An He is the one who lead me into this new situation to begin with.

So, I guess at the end of week one I’ve learned that beginnings “new things” are scary to me. That I have to make sure I keep my eyes focused on the right things. And that even if something is scary God is right there beside me.

Did you pick a word for the year? If you have, leave it in the comments below and let’s cheer each other on.

To Everything There Is A Season…

Kiley Ann