I honestly didn't know if I would ever be a “word of the year” kind of person, you know…the kind to set intentions and goals to. It’s about the only thing I've never pressured myself to do…lol! I knew I didn’t want to pick just a random word and run with it, I would want it to be God led and inspired. Well this year, my wonder of if this was ever going to be a thing for me is over…I officially have a word for 2022! It’s technically more than one word, more like a phrase, but nonetheless here it is….
SHOW UP FOR IMPACT
I have a peaceful agreement with this statement and it brings closure and new beginnings all at the same time. It’s a closure to hesitancies and uncertainties about the future. It’s an invitation to take up our highly favored and blessed portions, for God truly has been trying to hand these out for a while now. God is wanting to do wildly enormous and gracious things in the lives of his people. This requires us to SHOW UP and be present for what He is doing. It’s our personal transformations, restorations, and bold God stories (testimonies) while we are showing up, that will undoubtedly IMPACT the world around us. We need to show up to the things the Lord is doing, saying, teaching, and calling us to in this year, for it’s the footpath to our destiny on this earth and in heaven. Our destiny requires our presence even now. I believe that the Lord has called us to leave an impact on this world, but first we must make sure we are making ourselves available to even do so.
The truth is, our impact journey starts before we were ever born. The Lord speaks in Jeremiah 1:5 and says, “ I knew you before I formed you in your mothers womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah responds to the Lord, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young.” The next few verses show God encouraging Jeremiah to not be afraid of his God given impact. He promised to protect Jeremiah and to be with him throughout his journey.
Just like Jeremiah, I never wanted to give myself an ounce of credit of possibly having an impact on more than just a hand full of people…tops, but not impacting the nations. But if we are living a Godly life, that means there will be a Godly impact. That’s a hard thing to grasp if you don’t believe in yourself or see yourself the way God does. He has already seen your greatness from the beginning of time. He has already seen the magnitude of your impact and knows the depth of your presence it requires. While God knows all these things about us , the issue lies when we don’t know these things about ourselves. Just like Jeremiah showed up and spent time with the Lord to gain confidence, encouragement, and clarity about his impact, so must we.
It’s easy to over complicate the word impact. I realized I had underestimated the Lord’s gentlest, yet mighty and powerful impact in my own life, and that was His comfort. That’s the first thing I can remember the Lord giving me when I called out to Him in prayer, even before I accepted Jesus as my savior, was comfort. Even before I knew who He was and what He has done for me. Even before I read the scriptures and studied the Bible. Even before I knew my true calling, and the time it took for me to accept it, He has always given me His comfort. God’s comfort…His mercy, love, and grace, has the biggest impact in our lives. It’s the silencing of my doubts, worries, and fears; and exchanging them with the hope, peace, victory, and protection of God’s word, that has been so comforting to me. That’s why it says in 2 Corinthians 1:4, “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” This is such a major way to impact and influence the world around us, just by offering the comfort that was given to us first.
Essentially, in order to impact the nations, we must first be impacted my the One who created the nations in the first place. When we present ourselves to the presence of God, He marks us with His truth, His love & mercy, and His signs & wonders. Then we get to go and leave our mark on the world.
It’s imperative that we keep showing up to our praise and worship of Him, keep showing up to the scriptures, keep showing up to His promises in the Bible, and keep showing up to our calling of being vessels who carry this deep knowledge and intimate experience with God’s comfort. The impact that these things will have on our own lives will certainly be undeniable to the world. I know the purpose of this Treasured Jars of Clay blog serves as the perfect example of all of this.
Showing up for impact requires a willingness of our hearts, transformation of our minds, and a perseverance of our relationship with the Lord and our surrender to Jesus as our savior. Showing up for impact may be a lifestyle that the Lord is also calling you to in 2022, but it is truly meant to be lived out through all the years beyond.
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