A Word for the Year

Choosing a Word for the Year

Word for the Year?

How about a Verse for the year?

Those of you who follow my blog know that I usually choose a word for the year. I started the practice after reading a blog posted by best-selling author Debbie Macomber many years ago when I began my writing journey.

I’ve gone through a series of words. Some have served me well. Others didn’t reveal themselves as readily, but in looking back, I see how the word surfaced in my life decisions and experiences.

I generally pray over the choice and God affirms the word I’ll use in some way. It may start popping up in conversations or in my daily Bible reading. 

It isn’t some sort of “mystical revelation.” Just experience and recognition.

Curiously, this year I landed on two verses and the very first word …the word TRUST, hit me in the face. And soul.

Proverbs 3:5-6. “5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

The passage goes on to say, 7 “Do not be wise in your own eyes…”

So, for 2026 I chose not only the word TRUST, I chose the whole passage. 

You see, over the course of time, life experiences have challenged my writing…my purpose, my platform, my ability.

I continue to write but often feel I am not up to the task.

I attended a writing conference in October, but for much of it I felt unprepared. Unnoticed. Inadequate. 

I wanted to meet agents or publishers, but I didn’t find a comfortable connection in those arenas. 

Curiously, though I write Women’s Fiction, I found the energy I longed for at the conference in the Children’s Literature track with Michelle Medlock Adams.

I don’t know if that will lead me anywhere, but I’m open to the possibility. In the meantime, I finished the rewrites on a book near and dear to my heart. I have a publisher interested in reading it and I submitted a short story to a children’s magazine. 

So, I will continue to write…and trust. I must. God knows so much more than I do about this stuff!

Do you have a word for the year? Or a verse? You don’t have to be a writer to choose a word. Just select one and see how it pops up in your life in 2026. 

It can be fun. And challenging!