The Power of One Word

by Beth K. Vogt

I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions.

Oh, sure, I’ve tried to resolve my way into a better me – usually failed before the month of January is over. I lose the list. Or I just lose the want-to, overwhelmed by all those numbered priorities. It’s as if I’m juggling a bunch of have-to's.

Anybody else relate?

Twelve years ago, I discovered the principle of One Word – choosing to focus on one word for an entire year. Consider this quote from the book My One Word by Mike Ashcraft and Rachel Olsen:

“ …words encapsulate ideas. They evoke our emotions. They hook into memories. They define our experiences—helping to shape us in the process.

There’s power in words. Beauty in words. Grace in words.

Words create movement. They craft nations. They seal a marriage. They cast vision. They make us laugh. They focus our attention. They expand our horizons. They stimulate our creativity. And they script our possibilities.”

As writers, we can all agree with that statement, can’t we? Words are powerful. Now consider the process of prayerfully choosing one word to focus on in 2017, allowing it to fuel personal and spiritual change in your life. Intrigued?

To further spark your imagination, here’s a recap of my previous One Words:

• 2006: gratitude - Keeping a gratitude journal revolutionized my “glass-half-empty” attitude.
• 2007: simplify - A severe illness changed this word to survival as I embraced simpler things in ways I never imagined.
• 2008: content - as in “be content with such things as you have” (Hebrews 13:5) I bought a lot less that year!
• 2009 & 2010: forgiveness - I had a lot to learn and unlearn about forgiveness.
• 2011: hope - There were times I could have asked “Why?” Instead, I asked myself, “Are you going to abandon hope?” My answer: No.
• 2012: trust - During a year of change, I faced doubting versus trusting -- and chose to trust. 
• 2013: confidence - I was so much stronger after keeping my heart and mind set on "not throwing away my confidence." (Hebrews 10:35-36) 
• 2014: think - I anchored my thoughts to truth more and more, rather than letting my thoughts go wandering.
• 2015: collaborate – This means to work jointly on an activity, especially to produce or create something. Synonyms: co-operate, join forces, team up, band together, work together, participate, combine, ally. As a writer, I focused on collaborating with God.
• 2016: prosper - to act wisely, as in "And David was acting wisely (prospering) in all his ways for the LORD was with him." (1 Samuel 18 14.) This word helped me make major decisions.

My word for 2017 surprised me: inheritance.

Psalm 16:5-6 (NIV) says: "Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." 

At times I've talked negatively about my inheritance. Not the eternal one I've received from God, no. But there can be emotional "inheritances" carried from generation to generation within families ... some good, some harmful. One night as I battled insomnia, I read Psalm 16:5-6, and the word "inheritance" seemed to be written in bright, bold letters. I knew it was my One Word for 2017.

If you’re considering focusing on One Word in 2017, here a few things that have helped me:

1. Read the book My One Word by Mike Ashcraft & Rachel Olsen. It’s not mandatory reading – I chose One Words for several years before I found this resource – but it’s excellent. There’s also a website: http://myoneword.org
2. Take time to pray about your One Word.
3. Read through Scripture and see if a particular verse stands out to you. My One Words are always scripturally based.
4. Look for confirmation. My One Word is often confirmed by a quote, a song, or a visual. I use those as additional ways to focus on my One Word for the year.

So, do you prefer to keep New Year’s Resolutions? Does anyone else choose One Word for the year like me? I’d love for you to share them in the comment section!

TWEETABLES

The Power of One Word by Beth K. Vogt (Click To Tweet)

I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions~ Beth K. Vogt (Click To Tweet)

There’s power in words. Beauty in words. Grace in words. (Click To Tweet)

Beth K. Vogt is a non-fiction author and editor who said she’d never write fiction. She’s the wife of an Air Force family physician (now in solo practice) who said she’d never marry a doctor—or anyone in the military. She’s a mom of four who said she’d never have kids. Now Beth believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” As a contemporary romance novelist, Beth is a 2016 Christy Award winner and 2016 Carol Award winner for her novel Crazy Little Thing Called Love.  She was also a 2015 RITA® Finalist for her novel Somebody Like You, which was one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Books of 2014. In 2015, Beth introduced her destination wedding series with both an e-novella, Can’t Buy Me Love, and a novel, Crazy Little Thing Called Love. She continued the series in 2016 with the e-novella You Can’t Hurry Love (May) and the novel Almost Like Being in Love (June). Her novella A November Bride was part of the Year of Wedding Series by Zondervan. Beth enjoys writing contemporary romance because she believes there’s more to happily-ever-after than the fairy tales tell us. Find out more about her books at bethvogt.com. An established magazine writer and former editor of Connections, the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth is also part of the leadership team for My Book Therapy, the writing community founded by best-selling author Susan May Warren. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people, and their youngest daughter, Christa, who loves to play volleyball and enjoys writing her own stories.

Read More

Alternate Ending

by Cynthia Ruchti

Have you been part of a book project that allowed you to choose an alternate ending?  Were you the reader or the author?

The concept intrigues. The story progresses to a critical moment. The outcome depends on one of several choices the author or reader makes.

How would some of our favorite stories from the Bible read with alternate endings?

Eve brings Adam the fruit in the Garden. Adam rises as a courageous spiritual leader of their relationship and says, "Eve, sweetheart, I know this looks tempting, but I can't disobey my God. He said we're forbidden to touch the fruit from this tree. We can't do it." Imagine where the world would be today if Adam had chosen that ending.

Moses comes down from the mountaintop where he has just met with God and received the Ten Commandment instructions from the mouth and finger of God. Rather than the raucous idolatry in which they were originally involved, this alternate ending finds the Israelites on their knees in prayer, upholding God's servant and seeking what the Lord has to tell them. Moses brings the Law into the midst of a people consumed by true worship. They receive the words with gratitude and sobriety and are filled with the Spirit of God. If only…

King David sees Bethsheba bathing on her rooftop. The king averts his eyes, prays for strength, and commands his servants to build a privacy fence between his property and hers to ward off future temptation.

Change one detail and the outcome is radically altered, with generations or millennia of consequences.

We've been given an alternate ending life. Daily, we stand in a position of choosing an option that will help us grow or stagnate, move closer to the Lord or put distance between us, improve our relationships or damage them, defuse a conflict or escalate it, progress in our personal character arc or slip backward.

"How do you want this to turn out?" God asks. "Well or poorly? As a scene hero or a scene villain? Redemptively or destructively? Prayerfully or pridefully? Obediently or rebelliously? It's up to you. Your choices change the outcome."

Even on a micro-level, our moment by moment decisions about time use, attitude, word choices, and focus alter what comes next.

In the ultimate edit, alternate ending counsel, recorded for us in Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIV, revised) God said, "I set before you today life and death. Hint: Choose life." 

What was the last choice you made that totally altered the outcome of your life's story?


Cynthia Ruchti tells stories of Hope-that-glows-in-the-dark through her novels, novellas, devotions, and nonfiction as well as speaking events for women and writers. Her recent releases include the novel When the Morning Glory Blooms and Ragged Hope: Surviving the Fallout of Other People's Choices. www.cynthiaruchti.com or www.facebook.com/CynthiaRuchtiReaderPage.

Read More

Is Your Life a Joke?

Marcia's devotionals have been widely distributed in Canada and the U.S. Her book, Spur of the Moment is now in second printing. Visit her website - www.vinemarc.com

“Your life is a joke.” Heads jerked up when Alton Gansky, the speaker at our Spring WorDshop said those words. He smiled and went on to suggest that our writing careers were a joke too. Then he defined the word: a story that has an unexpected twist. He talked about his own life and career and the many twists and turns both have had. It made me take a walk down my own memory lane.

I thought of all the “what if’s.” What if I’d gotten that job as a radio host (the manager wouldn’t hire me because he didn’t feel the audience was “ready for a female voice”). What if I’d enrolled in the creative writing program at that university when the door opened for me, instead of staying in the Yukon? What if I hadn’t attended that seminar many years later, that lit a fire inside me to write for the Lord?

So many choices, so many roads not travelled.

I was reminded of the time my middle daughter, Laura, called to ask my advice. She was at an “in- between” place, working in the city while waiting to leave on a mission trip for a year. Hence, her quandary. Should she stay in the city where rents were high, or come home for the next few months so she could save some money as the process unfolded? The mission had given her a choice - should she choose Kenya or Bangladesh?
As a mom I wanted to jump right in and tell her to come home. But I restrained myself. I advised her to keep praying and wait for God to give her peace about the decisions. The next morning I read Psalm 84. I e-mailed Laura and typed out verses 3 and 4 because they had struck a cord.

“Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young – a place near your altar, O Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.”

As I read the words I pictured those tiny birds flying high over the temple in Jerusalem. I thought about all they would have seen and heard – the priests and believers coming and going to offer sacrifices, the songs sung in praise and worship, and above all, the presence of God in that place. I thought how true it is, even today, that we must nest close to the Lord and his people.

So many times God has told us this – stay close, let me gather you under my wing, hide yourself in me, abide in me. I think he said it so often because He knows how prone we are to not do it. We pull away so quickly; we find reasons to stay away. We make choices that prove to be to our detriment.

It’s interesting that the very next verse talks not about resting in one place, but about those “who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.” The principle is clear: You don’t have to stay in one place to stay close to the Lord. Whether my daughter stayed in the city or came home, whether she went to Africa or Asia, as long as she stayed close to the Lord, depending on Him for strength and guidance, praising and thanking Him, she would be in the right place.

Our careers and lives are a joke – they will take many unexpected twists and turns. We will make many choices, some bad, some good. But as long as we stay close to the Lord, it’s all okay.

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!” (Psalm 84:11-12).

Read More