First or ONLY Word of 2025?

???

{I don't know so I'm ...}

Not sure - as I begin with this first official blog post for 2025 (actually 2nd but the previous one was done by me in 2024) - whether this blog post should be my first & ONLY one; or just what will 2025 hold for me, my life & my Lord God in this year? As usual this might just be my way of just sorting all this out, by writing it out (as my personal therapy place) & processing the One Word for 2025, or perhaps I'll just become content, rather than wrestle with "having" to have a One Word. 

Is it a time for me to "RESET"(or REST) and/or hit "PAUSE" on blogging? Perhaps. After spending January 2025 in Prayer & Fasting, as I SEEK God & ask Him which One Word (and/or verse) and my direction for 2025; as I spent a considerable amount of time interceding for much, as this year got off to such a rough start & it doesn't seem to be getting any better, but each day seems worse - it's quite unbelievable the range of so many events & issues in our world & individual's personal lives. I still haven't fully grasped all of this yet. Maybe 2025 has started out this way for you, your life and your loved ones, too.

I hoped that I might come here with my One Word for 2025 and DECLARE with clarity & optimism my new One Word direction. I was hoping that I might have a One Word that might give a more positive outlook into 2025 and forward. Instead I'm here to share the Ones that are my considerations, or perhaps combination of them; and I will continue seeking God's confirmation for One from these One Words. I have been reading God's Word & verses and definitions of each of these One Words that I'm considering. Perhaps as you read this, you might be thinking that I'm striving or overthinking this choice of One Word & not leaning in and listening to God & His Will for me, knowing He knows all that 2025 holds. I sure hope not. Or perhaps since last year, I had a 2024 One Word that was primary, but also FOCUSED on One Word each week for 52 weeks, so I was accustomed to more than just One Word & liked the diversity and challenge. Even though I don't have a One Word for each week of the year, I'm thinking that I probably have One Word for each month as I sort & SEEK what God may be saying.

The easiest choice might be to just go with the One Word that the (in)courage quiz gave me. It's a good one for actually anyone. I had my verse for that One Word right away. There are many verses to choose from that contain this One Word. I started out with the verse that immediately came to mind from one of my favorite books, author & chapters in the New Testament. In fact, it's repeated frequently in that one chapter, in various verses. However, I quickly discovered that different translations use another word instead of that particular One Word, which  would make a good choice, also. Now this led me to choosing which of these would be better. The second one was more clear. I pondered awhile, but then I just put both words aside, for the time being. Funny though, how I was more drawn to the second one, not the one given by the quiz, even though they both mean the same. But having this problem with two great One Words right away helped me to wonder if perhaps this wasn't the One Word God was speaking for me for 2025, yet I knew it was one that no matter what One Word I ended up with, this One Word is one that would REMAIN and I would ABIDE closer to Jesus all year with either of these two. 

The next One Word, is one that came to me during 2024 while I was reading FOCUS (by the way, even that word seemed like a good consideration) and a Church has even chosen this as their Word. In fact, while that One Word was our FOCUS that week, I read a You Version reading plan & a sample of a book with this One Word which soon became a purchase since it was a 365 day devotional & a good one. But actually this also became a two word dilemma from the title of that book and the verse from God's Word that contains both of these words too. (sigh) Both One Words would be a good ANCHOR for my SOUL for 2025. Sometimes when this happens early, when you sense this might be my new One Word, it ends up being the right one. I need to just keep my eyes FOCUSED or FIXED on Jesus!

But then, two of the study books that I had purchased and set aside, decided that in January they would start an online study of their book and of course, since I was offline, I was unable to start with them. However, Lysa TerKeurst and Asheritah Ciuciu's books are waiting with excellent One Words for me (respectively): "I Want to TRUST You, But I Don't" and "DELIGHTing in Jesus: Rhythms to RESTORE JOY When You Feel Burdened, Broken or Burned-Out" ... both of these speak to me with my issues and lack of TRUST and my need for JOY and DELIGHT of Jesus more in my life, or maybe it's because I've dealt with those other "feelings" more than allowing His JOY to come forth and DELIGHT just in Him alone. Since I have been offline, unable to sign up or start with the beginning of these group book studies, I continue to read, seek and keep finding one of these words showing up in my daily Bible readings and verses. This alone makes me lean into this one as my 2025 One Word.

Yet I still have a few more One Words than these that I have been considering prayerfully & in God's Word. So this might be the ONLY Word I share in 2025 as a blog post. God's got my full attention, so I wait & STAND watch & stay alert, keeping my FAITH FOCUS in God's WORD. The Best ONE WORD! The ONLY True WORD I really need (the Bible comes in so many versions)!

I may be back to add more if time allows

or better yet if

GOD

prompts me

🙏🙏🙏

💙

or perhaps

I'll be content with

NO ONE WORD

but can I

SURRENDER 

and just

DELIGHT

in

JESUS

and

enjoy

RETIREMENT 

with Him

💙

(if only)

💙but
of course
I will
ABIDE
&
ANCHOR
in
JESUS
always
🙏🏼{not just 2025}💙⚓️💙 
I will
TRUST
Him
as I
STAND GUARD
Stay Alert
Keep the Faith to
REMAIN
in Him & His
PRESENCE
🙏🏼
"SEEK HIM FIRST"💙 and be 💙PRESENT🙌🏼
SO
Let's keep those weekly
DECLARATIONS
on SUNDAY going of CCR's
and her new book that I shared
"REVIVE"

🙏ing that our nation does:

"I will remember that every moment

presents the option to "Start FRESH"

I declare that the "path of the just is like

the shining sun, that shines ever brighter 

unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18

I declare that God alone places before us

an "Open door that no one can shut"

Revelation 3:8

I declare

Psalm 23:3 TPT

in Jesus' name and bring honor to

His Name! I TRUST in Him!

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I gave clues throughout this about my 2025 
ONE WORD
CHOICES
can you guess any?
and
which ONE do you
think I should choose?
OR
NONE
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because of my indecision
I may not be back
regularly
LENT,
books, and 
my current role 
keeps me from clearly
writing, or having time
so as I started this
might be my
ONLY
1
{naw, I need this, I think}
I am so glad it's February finally!
💙🙏💙💚📘

{because just look how much I kept 

going & going like the Energizer Bunny,

 once I thought this was it from me in 2025}

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In case, in my absence, you need some realBlogger inspiration from bloggers who write very well(besides the many *well-known ones)
Here are some of my favorites that I highly recommend:{I would have more but the others I knew are no longer blogging}Living Intentionally (Jeff & Angie Knight, missionaries)Peace for the Journey (*Elaine Olsen, author)Unveiling a Hope Filled Life (Lori Schumaker, author)Martha's Musings (Marsha Harwood, writerBiblical counselor, life coach, speaker)
I'm pretty sure all of these are speakers too & probably moresince I was active here, but they are on my "reading list"!
{if I find any others still blogging, I'll add them}
If you are a blogger, please add your blog & name in the comments.
Thank you!
I really have missed y'all!
💙Peggy💙

MY "JUSTICE SEEKING SOUL" in 2025

Back before 2024 ended & 2025 began, I set up this post to publish on this day - Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Inauguration Day (11:30 ET starts); and a very special person who was born on this day 95 years ago. So this special person preceded the other two in marking this date by 7 years. However, that all 3 end up on this day, this year could be considered rare. [Facts shared below for 2 of these; the other one is on that person's birth certificate from Fort Dodge, Iowa]

"Inauguration Day moved to January 20, beginning in 1937, following ratification of the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, where it has remained since." On Nov. 2, 1983, Reagan signed a bill making the third Monday in January a federal holiday in observance of King's legacy. MLK Day was first observed three years later on Jan. 20, 1986 and since.

None of this, or all 3 of these, are the reason that I chose to prewrite this blog post, and a devotional that I was motivated to purchase an early September weekend when the Spirit prompted me, yet I have not read it still but decided that I would definitely need to start reading it now.

I have chosen January 20th as the day that I will begin (if I don't before) and focus on the scriptures on this day, but will not be reading the entire book in that one day. I'll be reading God's Word primarily from that devotional book (since I will still be doing my annual "prayer & fasting"), which is the reason I put this together ahead to publish on January 20th so that not only would I continue to seek God and read His Word, but so I would not be distracted on this day by the Inauguration, which I had already determined I would not turn on my TV to see. I have prayed in many ways about this day and the people. What I need, so that I continue to remain CALM (my 2024 One Word) and prayerful is "Rest for the Justice Seeking Soul" (the well-written devotional by Reverend Dr. Susan K. Williams Smith). I thought that my 2025 One Word might be any of the words in this title, since apparently this is how my soul seems to find calm and needs to lean for now. 

I hope you can see the thread that ties what I began with for this blog post: it's that "equality and justice" is what two of the 3 and this book have stood for in their lives - human rights for all. And usually the person being inaugurated on this day to be President also stands for this - especially ones like former President Jimmy Carter (at 100 years old). - but in my opinion, not this time, nor this person. He stands for himself, seeking revenge & retaliation - power and wealth as his driving force. It's ok if you don't agree with me, but sadly, this is what I see. I hope he proves me wrong, and my perspective makes sense. whether you agree or not. I spend much time seeking truth and will continue, to watch and remain alert as I "stand guard". So this is why I must focus and seek God & spend my time today in His Word, as the special birthday person celebrates with his remaining siblings that have come to be with him for his day.

The main scripture verse on the cover of this book is from Amos 5:24.

Written inside the opening pages in "what people are saying" about the author & the book states that "Susan K. Smith knows what it means to stand in the center of the storm with hurting and struggling people."~ Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan Simpson

I need to learn and know how to do this in 2025 and forward. It goes on to say:

 "What does one need to do to hold on to the courage to be fully human in a world that punishes humanity and vulnerability?"~ Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan Simpson

WOW!!! - these words were included from Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan Simpson; and she continues with more powerful questions like that one above, she then states that this book "... reaches deep into the places of the hearts of people who refuse to disengage or live in denial with exactly what our hearts need daily to weather difficult times and spaces..." I know that this is what I need and my heart needs for 2025 to keep my spirit hoping. The meditations of this book will hopefully do this and feed my soul and spirit, starting off with Amos 5:6-9 (the book mentions that the Bible version used unless otherwise indicated is The New Revised Standard Version. {I am not familiar with this version}

(1) "Seek the Lord and live or He will break out against the house of Joseph like fire and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it. Ah, you that turn justice to wormwood,  and bring righteousness to the ground! The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night,  who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is His name, who makes destruction flash out against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress." (NRSVA)

Interesting note from the NIV that I do readAmos 5 titled"A Lament and Call to Repentance"{which seems fitting for this day}
It was interesting to see in various versionswhat this chapter was titled, some are similar, some don't title
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Here are the Scripture verses: (in whatever version you choose)💙 The title of that meditation is in quotation marks after the Scripture 
[There is no reason for the grouping of the verses, it's just to make them more easily readable & break the list of verses down for me] (it is not done this way in the devotional)

(2) Isaiah 41:10 "God is With Us";  (3) 1 Timothy 2:1-2 "A Prayer for our Nation and Her Leaders"; (4) Luke 1: 78-79 "When Darkness Seems Impenetrable" (5) Romans 12:2 "Taking Spiritual Inventory"

(6) Psalm 46:10 "Being Still" (7) 1 Samuel 1:15-16 "Addressing the Bitterness of Our Souls"  (8) Romans 8:35 "The Gift Given Through Suffering"  (9) Ezekiel 37:5 "When You Can't Breathe" (10) Psalm 30:5 "To Wake Up and Work"

(11) Isaiah 59:2; Romans 12:9-10, 19-20 "Letting God Be God" (12) Psalm 91:5 "The Value of Nighttime" (13) Psalm 91:5 "The Pain of Being Nameless" (14) Matthew 5:9 "Becoming a Peacemaker"  (15) Colossians 3:9 "Dealing with Deception"

(16) 1 John 4:4 "Dealing with Humiliation" (17) Isaiah 41:10 "It Is No Secret" (18) Psalm 23:4 “And Then I Was Sweating” (19) 2 Corinthians 9:8 "Claiming Our Privilege" (20) Proverbs 16:3 "Do the Work"

(21) Proverbs 16:3 "Doing What Makes You Come Alive" (22) Psalm 13:2 "The Oil of Struggle" (23) Psalm 130:7 "Psalm 130" (24) Jeremiah 6:16 "God is Sovereign, Not Injustice" (25) Ephesians 6:12 "A Community of Resistance in Spite Of"

That's a verse for every hour of January 20thI've already done the one from Amos😉
I was unable to complete with the Scripturesbut here are the rest of the devotionalsand I will add the verses later

(26) Luke 23:46 NIV Committing to God  (27) Isaiah 40:31Learning Who You Are  (28) 1 John 4:4   Loving God Enough to Love Ourselves (29) 2 Corinthians 5:17 The Fine Art of Self-Forgiveness  (30) 2 Corinthians 4:8-10The Holes That Won’t Heal

(31) Hebrews 12:1-2 When Our Backs Are Bent (32) Matthew 19:26 Walking Across Rope Bridges  (33) Psalm 37:1-2 When Your Heart Aches  (34) 2 *Esdras 16:74-75 God Is Our Guide  (35) Psalm 56:13 In the Midst of Enemies

(32) is the start of February
*not included in many versions of the Bible; found inthe earliest editions of the Catholic Douay-Rheims;KJV, the Revised version, the Revised Standard

(36) Isaiah 41:17-18 Will God Bring Justice?  (37) Psalm 27:5 Walking the Bridge of Sighs (38) Matthew 11:28-29 A Walk Across the Street  (39) Romans 12:5 On the Elimination of Isolation  (40) Psalm 34:8 Learning to Thrive When You Have Been Merely Surviving

(41) 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 The Power and Pathos of Quiet Grace  (42) Jeremiah 29:13 Embracing the Theology of “Somebodiness” (43) Mark 6:48-50   We Can Do All Things  (44) Mark 1:15 NIV Escaping Deception  (45) Psalm 137:1    Out of Babylon

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(46) When God Closes a Door  (47) The Power of Embarrassment  (48) The Power of Releasing Grief  (49) The Power of Moving  (50) The Power of Doing Little Things

(51) The Power of Vision (52) Mourning into Dancing (53) Why We Wrestle (54) Oppressed by “a Handful of Dying Men” (55) Keeping Vigil

(56) When We Let God In (57) Anger and Clogged Ears (58) Facing What We Must  (59) What’s YOU Name?  (60) When We Silence God

MARCH

(61) When Words are Empty  (62) To Be a Coffee Bean  (63) Trying to Comprehend the Incomprehensible  (64) When the Sun’s Rays Are Weakest  (65) Killing Our Mockingbirds

(66) On Forgiveness and Love  (67) When You Know You’ve Let Go  (68) When We Must Use Another Part of our Spirit  (69) The Path of the Familiar  (70) The Deafening Silence of Loss

(71) Elbow Grease  (72) Gird Your Loins  (73) Spiritual Dehydration  (74) God in the Time of Trouble (75) Treading Water

(76) Looking for God from the Sidewalk  (77) It Is Scary to Love  (78) Our Honest and Troubling Struggle with God  (79) Reaching for the Transcendent  (80) Spiritual Malpractice

(81) When You’re Expected to Grin and Bear It  (82) The Depth of the Excellence of God  (83) The Fatal Flaw of Seeking Vengeance  (84) The Gift and Function of “Unstructured Malevolence”  (85) Understanding Soul Poverty

(86) What Elephants Teach Us  (87) Yet Do We Marvel  (88) Keeping Vigil at the Bedside of the World  (89) Believing We Can Do All Things (90) In the Tabernacle

Maybe I'll be able to complete by Lentwhich begins March 5th-April 17thwhich is 40 days (and doesn't include Sundays)
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There are 574 verses that contain JUSTICE - here's onethat tells us what Jesus says about JUSTICE:

"And will not God bring about JUSTICE for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off?  I tell you, He will see that they get JUSTICE, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:7-8 NIV

and here are 2 prayers for JUSTICE that I saved:

"Keep us Father from trying to take matters into our own hands for vengeance is Yours and You will repay - but Lord in Your grace and mercy we pray that You would give justice and peace to all those that have been cruelly and unfairly treated by their fellow man and may injustice and carelessness that they have had to endure be the means to draw them into Your saving arms of grace - we ask this in the precious name of the Lord, Jesus." author unknown "Ever present God, You called us to be in relationship with one another and promised to dwell wherever two or three are gathered. In our community, we are many different people; we come from many different places, have many different cultures. Open our hearts that we may be bold in finding the riches of inclusion and the treasures of diversity among us. We pray in faith." Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"... with liberty and JUSTICE for all"

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It was either this devo (which holds more of my passion)or "Retirement Rocks" and so far, I'm not finding much truth in those words, at least not for me.💙See you in February soon(I guess briefly before Lent starts)🙏Peggy