My One Word for 2023

Have you ever picked 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 nine years now.

This year, my word for 2023 is Surrendered.

It has been crazy how much this word has been popping up in all my books. I started praying about the word, and I love how God pointed me to two people in the Bible that live surrendered.

Mary, the mother of Jesus models this well when the angel appears to her about her miraculous pregnancy. She responds in Luke 1:38, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” Other versions say, “Let it be.”

Laying our will at the feet of Jesus is a beautiful picture of living surrendered. Saying to God, here is my family, my job, my ministry, what is your will? Lord, I release to you all my worries, my insecurities, my dreams. I give them all to you and say, “Let it be; your will over mine.”

These words, “Let it be” help us release control and hand it over to the One who holds the whole world in His hands.

Oh friend, this is easier said than done which is why I am spending the next year focusing on living surrendered.

The second character in the Bible that modeled this well is Samuel. Listen to his response in 1 Samuel 3:10 when God calls out to him. “Speak your servant is listening.”

Notice that both Mary and Samuel use this word, servant. I found it super interesting because a second word kept appearing in my books, and I now see how it pairs with surrendered.

The second word is humble!

After reading both these Bible stories, I got a great visual of what humility looks like. Not living for yourself, a servant is all about his master’s business.

I pray we can be about God’s business this year and live surrendered and humble!

What is your word for 2023?

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 word and why you chose it, so please share in the comments below.

Love, Jodi

Note: For the last Depth Podcast Episode in 2022, I share more about this one word challenge as well as some of my past words, what they meant to me, and how I came up with them. Then, I also want to share with you a resource—a book called *My One Word by Mike Ashcroft and Rachel Olsen. It is a great tool if you want something to read to help you choose your word or a book to help guide you along the way. Check out Depth Podcast Episode 157.