Has God placed a special word on your heart for 2026?

Do you pick a word to focus on each year?

Instead of making resolutions, I choose a word that sums up who I want to be or how I want to live. I have participated in this One Word Challenge for over a decade now.

This year, my word for 2026 is Wholeheartedly!

I love when a word keeps reappearing in what I am reading.

I first saw it in a Jesus Calling devotional, and the word stood out to me because I struggle with people pleasing. It read, “To follow Me wholeheartedly, you must relinquish your desire to please other people. However, your closeness to Me will bless others by enabling you to shine brightly in this dark world.”

The word appeared in my inbox the following day as I read a devotional written by Christine Caine. She was talking about Caleb in the Bible and she described him using these words:

“Caleb wasn’t the most gifted, eloquent, or smartest. But he was the most wholehearted and remained loyal. There’s nothing more inspiring than someone who stays hopeful for a specific promise over forty years.”

I remember telling my husband that spring, I think God is revealing my 2026 word to me. It was common for a word to reappear in a sermon I heard or a book I read, but that usually happened in the fall. I was surprised how early in the year this word kept showing up.

I talked with my mentor about it since I was not exactly sure how God was going to use this word in my life. We prayed for wisdom and then life took a huge, unexpected turn that May when I lost my dad. I honestly did not even think about it again until just recently.  

I love when God speaks to me in the middle of the night.

I was up around three last night and could not sleep. I decided to get up and I was watching some Christian reels on my phone. Tim Tebow was talking about Rest. But then he said something that caught my attention. He said, the Bible also says Run!  Then he said this profound statement: “Wholeheartedly run your race.”

I could not believe I was hearing the word again. This time, there was clarity around it for me. God was dropping ideas into my head about how He wants this word to show up for me in 2026. This is what a wrote in the middle of the night:

• Wholeheartedly run the race God has for me!
• Wholeheartedly live with contentment!
• Wholeheartedly take care of my body- exercise, eat healthy.
• Wholeheartedly love and serve others well- who can I bless with my words and my actions today? 
• Wholeheartedly rest when God says rest and wholeheartedly move when God says move. 
• Wholeheartedly live for an audience of One!

I love to have a Bible Verse to accompany my word, and I found two beautiful verses:

1) “Whatever you do, do it wholeheartedly as though you were working for your real master and not merely for humans.” Colossians 3:23 (GW)

2) “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people.” Ephesians 6:7 (NIV)

I ended my middle of the night wake up with God writing this: “Thank you Jesus for giving me these words! I am so excited for my 2026 Word. Help me live it out this next year.”

Friend, has God placed a word on your heart for 2026?

I want to encourage you to choose a word for next year. Where does God want you to focus?  

I would love to hear your 2026 Word and why you chose it, so please share in the comments below.

Love, Jodi

Note: If you want to hear more about picking a word for the year, I did a podcast episode: Check out Depth Podcast Episode 157 called One Word.