My word for 2023

Psalm 130 has been important to me recently. I have been reading it and singing it again and again. I especially love verse 5: “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.” It’s a declaration of trust that God is going to do what he says he will do.

One thing that I am waiting for is surgery for my husband. He is struggling to walk far, and he needs some corrective surgery on his ankle. He has already been waiting a long time, and in the natural there doesn’t seem much hope for getting the surgery any time soon. Our trust is in the Lord, though. We pray for healing, and while we wait for that we pray for the surgery. And while we wait for that we declare our trust in the Lord.

Sometimes I feel like the guy who was waiting for nearly forty years to get healed.  It’s in John’s gospel. The man had been a cripple for thirty-eight years, and he was by this pool where it seems that an angel occasionally stirred up the water, and after that happened the first person into the pool got healed. But this guy was a cripple, so he wasn’t fast enough to get into the water once the angel stirred it up. The way the story reads it sounds like people had been healed, but not this guy. So, he waited.

I think if I had been the cripple I would have sat with my feet in the water, or even more of my body in the water! Maybe that wasn’t allowed. Or maybe there were just too many people. Or maybe it happened so infrequently that there wasn’t much expectation of it happening again so why make too much effort. And the cripple waited. Hoping for healing, but with no real expectation that he was going to be the one who was healed. And then Jesus came to the man.

I want to be waiting expectantly for the Spirit to move. I want to keep my feet in the water, so that I don’t miss anything that the Lord is going to do. I choose to spend time in prayer and worship, I read my Bible daily, I listen to worship music and join in. There are sermons to listen to, podcasts that help me grow in my faith, gatherings where I can support others and receive support from them. As I am cooking, or walking, or driving, or so many other things I do, I am inviting the Lord to be present with me. And so often I do sense his presence, and I am encouraged. I pray for others, and I seek the Lord on their behalf. I sense God’s heart for those suffering and I long for breakthrough for them. I am convinced of God’s love for all people, and his desire for wholeness for everyone, and to that end I pray. But I long to see some more evidence of God answering my prayers.

Jesus asked the crippled man if he wanted to be healed. A reasonable question, since he had been there so long, and was not in a good position to get into the pool quickly if the water was stirred up. Then Jesus healed the man. He told him to pick up his mat and walk, and that was exactly what he did. He was healed! That is what I am waiting for – a fresh encounter with Jesus for me, for my husband, for the rest of my family, for my friends, for everyone!

When I asked the Lord for a word for 2023, I received two point five words. “I’m here.” Jesus is here, in 2023. In my church, in my home, in my life. Jesus is here. That is my word for 2023.