Reflection and Renewal: Choosing My Word of the Year

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I'm Angie Robertson and you're listening to the Spirit Led Life podcast, episode 46.

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Today we're diving into a special reflection.

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I'm going to share the story behind my word for the year, how I chose it, how it resonated with me, and how God unexpectedly shifted my word to something completely different.

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While the word I originally chose seemed fitting for what the year seemed to hold, the word God gave me is actually what has been happening this year.

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It seemed like an exciting word at the time, but now that I'm reflecting back and actually still walking this word out, it has stretched every aspect of my soul.

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Let's go to the show.

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Welcome to the show.

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If you are new here, I am so glad you are joining us on this podcast.

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We explore who God is so we can know who he has made us to be and learn to live our lives by the Holy Spirit.

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Before we get into today's topic, if you've ever felt the need to slow down, pause, and truly connect with Jesus, I have something special just for you.

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I'm inviting you to join our Journaling with Jesus Zoom gatherings.

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They are unique spaces where we come together to journal, reflect on Scripture, and experience the presence of God in a powerful way.

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Imagine setting aside a dedicated time to quiet your mind, open your heart, and listen for God's voice, all while being a part of a community that's growing in faith together.

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Whether you're new to journaling or it's already a part of your spiritual practice, this session is designed to help you deepen your connection with Jesus and discover his voice in your everyday life.

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Here's what you can expect.

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We'll start with a brief prayer, a centering practice to get out of your head and into your heart, a scripture reading, and then spend some time journaling together in the stillness.

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It's a simple, impactful, and incredibly rejuvenating time for your spirit.

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And don't worry, you don't have to share unless you feel led to.

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This is a safe, supportive space just for you and God.

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So if you're ready to experience the peace, clarity and joy that comes from journaling with Jesus, sign up now.

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Head to journalingwithjesus.com to register for the next upcoming session or all the sessions.

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I can't wait to see you there and share this special time together.

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ally as I prepare to plan for: 2025

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And if you aren't familiar with what that means.

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I thought I would start with a little background, so I typed into ChatGPT to define word of the Year, and here's what it gave me.

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A Word of the Year is a powerful and intentional word that individuals choose to guide them throughout the upcoming year.

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Unlike resolutions, which are often specific goals or tasks, the Word of the Year acts as a central theme or a touchstone that shapes one's mindset, decisions, and overall direction.

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It serves as a reminder of what matters most or where one desires growth, allowing for a more holistic and adaptable approach to personal and spiritual development.

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This practice can help people stay aligned with their values and intentions, offering clarity and purpose in daily life.

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Now, if you've been on social media, you've probably seen people in the new Year share their Word of the Year, and there are certainly different variations of how this practice is approached.

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Some people choose a word of the month or a quarter rather than just one word for the entire year.

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It really is your preference.

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My choosing a Word of the Year started when I used to do the Cultivate what Matters Power Sheets.

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I don't know if anybody remembers those.

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I think they're still around.

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They're not as popular anymore as they used to be.

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And it was a every year they would come out with a new set of power sheets for that year.

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And it's kind of like a goal planning process.

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And I would do these at the end of every year and actually, I mean I still do it.

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I did it at the end of last year as well.

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And there's a section in that.

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Those powersheets where you choose your Word of the Year.

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I love using this approach to goal setting because these power sheets were faith based and you really are inviting God into your planning.

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And each goal you set is a measure of how this is impacting God's overall kingdom.

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The process is a simple one of making a list of a few possible words that resonate with you and then looking up the definitions and then choosing a word.

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I've also used other processes to choose my Word of the Year.

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Some are faith based and some are not.

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And there's so many out there you can Google Word of the Year and you'll find tons of resources.

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I mean, heck, you can even use ChatGPT and I'm sure it will give you something.

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Now that we have a little backstory on what the Word of the Year is, I'll share my process and what that looked like for me this year.

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Now, like I mentioned, I use the Cultivate what matters power sheets, and if they're still produced, I'll link to them in the show Notes I use this process to come up with about five to seven goals for the year.

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And the goals aren't specific to just my business, but my personal life as well.

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For example, one of my goals this year was to explore more recreational activities, which is a goal I have not met by the way.

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Anyway, these powersheets have you do everything from assess the previous year, what worked, what didn't, a life evaluation of your health, your friends, your family, your finances, your spiritual walk, et cetera.

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And you also do some dreaming work on imagining yourself a year from now.

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And this is where you get into the next year.

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So by the time you do all of this work, you go through everything and you kind of highlight words or phrases that stick out to you and this gives you some clues as to what your word of the year might be.

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And for me for this year, since I had a lot of celebration like a five year anniversary for my book, 25 Year Wedding Anniversary.

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Five years since Dave's cancer last treatment.

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And so we're celebrating his cancer free, he turned 55.

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The theme that kept standing out to me was celebration, which seemed like a pretty good word for me.

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And celebrate was going to be my word for the year then.

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So once I've gone through all my goals and picked my word for the year, I like to create a vision board of the goals so that I can put it on my screen on my desktop, I can put it on my iPad screen, I can put it on my iPhone screen, and I can also make a journal cover for my upcoming journal because I always start a new journal every year and so I use that as my cover, my vision board.

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Which is also one of the reasons I love digital journaling, because I can customize my cover and it just kind of fits with my theme.

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So I like having my vision board in front of me everywhere.

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I create mine in Canva.

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I'll link to Canva if you're not familiar with it.

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It's an excellent program for designing graphics and so much more presentations, websites even.

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In fact, the Journaling with Jesus website was created in Canva.

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The logo for the podcast and the and the little tile that you see for the podcast that was created in Canva.

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Like I just create everything in Canva and it's a wonderful tool.

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So I also use it to create my vision board and I just choose pictures that represent my goals and then I'll include my word of the year Kind of at the top of my board once I've created it.

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So this whole process is one of my favorite end of the year activities that I do.

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And I usually do this in December, especially during the holidays, when things are a little bit slower for me.

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And I finish the whole process in January.

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So come, you know, the first week of January, I usually have all my goals completed and the vision board completed, if not sooner.

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Actually, because I tried to, I'd like to start the year with all that done.

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It's kind of become a holiday ritual for me, and I look forward to it every year and I cannot wait.

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I am chomping at the bits to get going on it this year.

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So last year into this year was no different.

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I created my vision board and I put celebrate at the top and loaded it up everywhere.

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And as January began to commence, I had signed up for a pivot summit that was starting in January.

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And each day of the week there was an email that was sent out, and it included a pivot story of someone, a major pivot story.

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It was regarding their career, and it was an interesting summit to be a part of.

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And so if you've never been a part of a summit or know what that is, it's usually it's somebody that curates a bunch of speakers to talk on a particular topic.

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Like there's journaling summits, there's enneagram summits that might be one that you might have seen a lot of, that you're familiar with.

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There's all kinds of summits people will do around particular topics.

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And this one was, the lady is a business coach, and so she was doing a summit around people that have made major shifts to their business and pivoted.

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And she was going through the same thing, and she was wanting to help others go through the same thing.

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Now, mind you, I was grappling with this podcast during this time of the summit.

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appling with it in October of: 2023

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But I had no clue when that would be, because I was stuck in my head.

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And I read email after email from the summit of people making pivots in their career.

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And they really started speaking to me, and that word pivot really started to stand out to me as well.

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And when I looked up the word pivot, I found this verb definition of it to adapt or improve by adjusting or modifying something.

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So for many years now, I've been wanting to pivot from the work I was doing as a virtual assistant.

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I've been doing it for 22 years.

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At this point, I had no clue what that looked like or meant.

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I knew there was something more.

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But what more meant?

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Well, I was on a journey with God to find out.

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ol several years ago, back in: 2020

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A stepping stone for what?

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I asked.

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And he was saying it was an invitation for more is all that he would share.

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So when this podcast, Desire, which has been there for a long time, but when it really started to get more and more in my face, if you will, I knew that that was going to be the invitation for the more and for that pivot, if you will.

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About midway through January of this year, I knew the Holy Spirit was speaking to me about my Word of the Year being pivot.

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And I wrote this in my journal on January 13, I'm changing my Word of the year from celebrate to pivot.

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When I chose the word celebrate, it felt a little forced and came with lots of expectation and pressures.

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It was a lot to live up to.

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Pivot seems more gentle, anticipatory, slow, calm, and open to change, but not putting demands or disappointment on what will come.

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So after making this change, and of course having to change my vision board and reload it everywhere, it was as if it was what I needed to surrender to God in order to move forward.

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So very shortly after I made this pivot, I got myself together and I launched this podcast on January 25th.

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I also made some other changes to not lead another virtual assistant school again.

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And it's been a year of pivot and changing the way I used to think about things and opening my soul to allow my spirit more freedom.

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It isn't easy for sure.

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My mind wants to know all, all the details and to be assured of the outcome.

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But this is an invitation, though, to trust God more.

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Lean not on my own understanding.

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It has been uncomfortable and I've been a bit squirmy as the year has gone on.

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The squirmy feeling is getting less and less.

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As I've shared, one of my pivots is from being known as a virtual assistant to launching this podcast, also journaling with Jesus gatherings and whatever else God has in store.

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I'm loving this work God has me doing right now, and with it are a lot of unknowns like, will it sustain me?

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If so, at what point?

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I mean, I certainly don't want this to be the focus, but it does take a lot of work to produce these episodes each week.

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Of course, I check in with God all the time to make sure I'm on the right track.

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In fact, just last month, when I went to God about launching Journaling with Jesus and asking if I should charge for it, he invited me to pivot again.

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Let me show you there are other ways to make money.

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No grinding, just obedience.

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He and I went on to dialogue about some struggles with my thinking that I've had in the past and how I've envied other people's businesses and questioned if I was doing the right thing.

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He shared with me, you haven't envied other people's businesses.

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You're envying that it looks effortless and yet they make money.

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You aren't doing the wrong thing.

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You're just not believing you will be provided for.

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You finally picked the thing.

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Now let me show you my provision without efforting.

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And believe me, I have had tons, I mean, probably thousands at this point, of ideas.

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And over the years, God has said, it doesn't matter.

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Just pick one.

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Just pick something and I'll be there.

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And I have struggled with that.

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I really have.

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So when he says, you finally picked the thing, that was what he was referencing.

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So I went on to ask him, my next question was, how do I expect without expecting?

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And he said, expect according to my word.

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You can expect.

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I will supply all your needs.

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You have everything you need.

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You do not want.

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My grace is sufficient for you.

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I'll give you everything you need to move forward.

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And while there has been a lot of celebrating this year, pivoting has been the theme for the year.

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Celebrate certainly sounds like much more fun, but pivoting is what is drawing me closer to God.

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So there is more to celebrate now.

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o do my word for the year for: 2025

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Don't worry.

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I will say, though, in all the years of doing the word of the year, this particular year was the first year I've ever changed my word.

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Usually I'm right on it, and sometimes the word just stands out and it's in my face.

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Like, one year, my word was risk.

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And everywhere I was going, I was hearing about risking.

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I was seeing messages about risking.

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And one day I went into a really cute boutique store, and in the clearance section, I had walked back there, they had this beautiful piece of artwork that had the word risk on it, gave a definition, and had like a Compass, like a 3D compass kind of paper artwork on it.

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And I knew that was my word for the year and I ended up buying that artwork and like hanging it in my office so that I could be reminded that that was my word every year.

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I'd love to know if you have a word of the year or any other rituals that you do for to end your year or to start your year.

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Send me a DM on Instagram or you can reply to one of the weekly emails that I send out because I'd love to hear.

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I don't want to be alone in this.

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I'd love to hear what others are doing as well.

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Now before we wrap up, I just want to say how grateful I am for each of you.

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Your support, your stories, and your shared journey with me make this podcast a joy and a blessing to create.

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And as we approach Thanksgiving, at times so rich with gratitude, family and connection, I hope for you, I want to let you know that spirit led life will be taking a short pause and this means there won't be a new episode during Thanksgiving week.

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That's it.

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I'm not leaving you forever, just Thanksgiving week.

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I truly believe it's important for all of us, myself included, to take a step back and spend some time with loved ones and truly savor the moments that matter the most.

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And I encourage you all to do the same, whether it's gathering around the table, sharing stories, or simply taking a quiet moment to reflect on your blessings.

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So while you won't be hearing from me in your podcast feedback that week, know that I'll be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers and grateful for this amazing community and the ways that we are continuing to grow together.

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I loved seeing some of your faces on the journaling with Jesus last week and I look forward to seeing you when we like this week and then also when we get back on from Thanksgiving break.

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So I'll be back the following week refreshed, ready to bring you more inspiration and spirit led conversations.

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Also, this little break will give you a chance to catch up on any episodes you might have missed.

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So may your Thanksgiving be filled with peace, love and gratitude.

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I know I am grateful for you.

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Also, I want to let you know that I'm in the process of updating the spiritledlifepodcast.com website and I'm super excited about the new design and how much easier it's going to be to navigate.

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So stay tuned for that.

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Maybe I'll have that as a Christmas or a Thanksgiving.

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A pre Christmas present if you will.

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For you.

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So moving on to this week's Heavenly Position System Challenge take out your journals and for the next 15 minutes or so find a quiet spot and be thinking about your word for the year or how you want to close out this year and start into the next year.

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Do you want to do some goals or some dreaming with God or do you want to maybe think about a word of the year?

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tement what's ahead for us in: 2025

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So as I close, I will leave you with a prayer from the Book of the Power of a Praying Woman, which I will link to in the show notes.

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The title of the prayer is Lord, lead me into the future you have for me.

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Lord.

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I know your thoughts toward me are of peace to give me a future and a hope.

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I know that you have saved me and called me with your holy calling, not according to my works, but according to your own purpose and grace.

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Thank you Holy Spirit, that you are always with me and will guide me on the path so I won't lose my way.

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Move me into powerful ministry that will impact the lives of others.

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For your kingdom and your glory, I reach out for your hand today so I can walk with you into the future you have for me.

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Amen.

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Thank you for joining me on today's episode.

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This episode was produced, recorded and edited by me, Angie Robertson.

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I look forward to joining you each Thursday for a new episode as we explore together how to have a spirit led life.

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It's sa.