The new year has been enthusiastically rung in. The holiday decorations, leftovers, and remaining baked goods have been packed up, eaten, or discarded. And the litany of Facebook posts summarizing 2017 and identifying a "word" or a list of resolutions for 2018 have begun. I love reading people's insights about the year behind and seeing them dream and plan for the year to come. This brief window of reflection each year is powerful--typically the only time any of us pause to assess where we've been, where we are, and where we're going. It's a moment full of meditation and evaluation, promise and potential. This time last year, I was doing the same thing--buying a fresh new journal with invitingly crisp white pages, sharpening my new box of colored pencils, setting goals for everything from health to family to vacations to book reading, and finding my word for the year. God was calling me into a wilderness season (that word was already taken) and such a pivotal year needed a good word. I was late to the "find a word" tradition. I needed to up my game. I prayerfully pondered my word like I was shopping for shoes. I finally settled on a word that was beautiful and different: Selah, a restful pause to prepare for what's next. Those shoes looked good on my feet and perfect for where I would be walking! The thing is...I had no idea where I would be walking.Lessons from 2017Sabbath means rest. Sabbatical means a journey.I choose the word Selah for 2017 because I assumed that after years of ministry without a break, God was asking me to step down so that I could rest, be refilled, and consider the future. While I did spend more time alone, sitting still, and quietly connecting to God than ever before, he quickly showed me that he had work for me to do. After years of giving my "busy" to ministry, he finally had my undivided attention to get that work done. My sabbath year was about to become a sabbatical year. Both involve taking a break, but sabbatical years are breaks taken for a purpose--to travel, research, and write. In other words, some wilderness seasons are ordained for journeying, not wandering. We can't see signs when we're fixated on the map. It's good to set goals and make plans. Our lives should be lived with intention, and I believe the only way to do that is to lean into the exercise of goal-setting. But I'm learning to hold loosely to any of those strategies because God is likely to disrupt them. He has plans for me that may or may not align with all the carefully crafted goals and task lists I've journaled into my planner. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord." (Jer 29:11). He knows those plans and I don't. I'm not a pawn in God's hands. I'mgiven wide open spaces within which to dream and be creative, but if I want to live a God-first life, my life can't be driven by the whip of calendars, planners, goal sheets, and task lists. I need to have my head up, eyes open, and ears alert for the direction of his Spirit so I won't miss all the signs God is showing me about where to go and what to do.Too much planning robs us of the adventure. I get a lot of peace from planning, and I definitely get a little creative thrill from journaling goals, tracking progress, and logging outcomes--especially if I can do it with colored pencils, doodles, and artwork. So it was with more than a little heartache that I had to obey when God told me to lay it all down....set it aside. "I didn't ask you to step down from ministry and walk with me in this season for you to spend it tracking your water intake, doodling in your journal, and logging your outcomes." Not sure how he talks to you, but God doesn't pull punches with me. God was calling me on an adventure and asking me to follow him....destination, route, and timing unknown. God never leaves us empty-handed. God asked me to put my journal up on a shelf, put my highlighters and colored pencils away, and for the first time in years, resist the urge to pull down and dive into a new Bible study or workbook. "I have something to put in your hands," he said. I think sometimes we're afraid to leave margin in our lives for God. He wants those unassigned tasks, those empty spaces on our calendars. And he wants our wide-open, empty hands. He will even go to great lengths to remove the things we're holding in order to see nothing but skin on our palms. But he doesn't leave us with fingers slack and hands splayed open. And when we trust him enough to lift our empty hands to him, he will fill them. My question at end of the year needs to be "Did I accomplish any of your goals, God?" I no longer care whether I accomplish the goals I set in January. No goal I wrote on January 1 of 2017 involved me ending the year with a book and study guide ready to publish. Or having a clear and beautiful vision for the six books that will follow. Clearly, God needs to own my goals. To everyone out there today---January 1, 2018---looking for your "word of the year":You won't know your word of the year until it's over. After an amazing year that started with an eagerly drafted journal of beautiful goals, I ended the year with only a handful of them met. And it thrills me. Because when I look at the list of all the things I accomplished this year, I realize the goals God had for me were SO MUCH BETTER than the ones I wrote for myself. SO MY WORD FOR 2017 WAS: PREVAIL"Many are the plans of a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." - Proverbs 19:21God's purposes in my life prevailed despite my best-laid (and well-journaled) plans. Praise Jesus. And my word for 2018? I have no idea yet. Lea