I have often heard people talk about choosing a word at the beginning of January as a guide for the rest of the year. Some Christians also recommend choosing a Bible verse for each year. A year ago, I did both of those things.
The verse I chose popped up in an email from K-Love Radio on January 1, 2022, as their verse of the day. It seemed appropriate to be my verse of the year:
He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.
Psalm 23:3 (NLT)
You may be more familiar with a different version of the verse:
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Psalm 23:3 (KJV)
At the end of 2021, I needed to be renewed and restored. Most of all, I needed guidance to find the right path God had for me.
My word of the year, perthro, came from a book I had just finished reading. It’s the name of a Norse rune that means “empty cup.” It can also refer to a cup for throwing dice. Both ideas suggest being open to whatever may come. No holding on to past hurts and resentments. No clinging to expectations for the future. Empty. Waiting. Ready to be filled by something new.
At the end of 2021, my latest book had been in publication for four months. My attempts to “launch” the book had all ended miserably. I had 12 reviews on Amazon, which is a long way from the hundreds of reviews I would need to legitimize the book in the eyes of people who didn’t know me. My confidence was badly shaken, and I didn’t know what step to take next.
The word perthro resonated with me. I had intended my book to be for God’s glory, not mine. I knew I needed to hand it over to him completely, to empty myself of my desires and be open to whatever he wanted to do in my life.
2022 brought ups and downs but very little evidence that the book was being discovered or making a difference in people’s lives. The struggles I had experienced with my publisher during the almost two years it took to get the book published continued. My attempts to promote the book always cost more money than they brought in. Now, at the end of 2022, I’m stuck at 20 reviews on Amazon. Not a rousing success.
I made a very difficult decision earlier this month and arranged to get all my rights back from my publisher. They are taking the book off the sales outlets, and it will no longer be available for sale.
Perthro. I thought I started the year with an empty cup, but it feels even emptier now.
I did a search of the New International Version of the Bible on Biblegateway.com for the word “empty.” It appears 48 times, starting with Genesis 1:2:
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
However, the word “fill” appears 258 times, beginning with Genesis 1:22 and 28 where God commands the birds to fill the sky, the fish to fill the seas, and humans to fill the earth. Some of the “fill” verses in the Old Testament are a little dark, but the New Testament has some great verses on being filled.
In the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), Jesus filled the people with awe with the miraculous works he did. After Jesus left the earth to return to heaven, his followers were “all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31 NIV). A jailer who witnessed a miraculous jailbreak “was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God” (Acts 16:34). And Paul, who had a miraculous encounter with the risen Jesus, wrote several verses about being filled by God. My favorite is Romans 15:13:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, I’m starting 2023 with a new word and a new verse. I’ve been emptied out, but I’m waiting to see how God will fill me this year—with awe, with joy, with hope, with peace. Maybe even with a co-author and a new publisher who can take my failed book and make it into something that will “bring honor to his name” (Psalm 23:3). That was my hope and prayer in 2022, but God doesn’t always do things on our time schedule. I need to wait for him and keep hoping.
What are you hoping for this year?
