Happy New Year everyone! It feels like so many people were looking forward to this year, not just for the usual reason of a fresh start, but to just be rid of “2020.” The year 2020 has seemingly become synonymous with all things horrible. While it was a rough year indeed for so many people, the lessons that were learned shouldn’t be discredited or forgotten.

My word of the year for 2020 was ‘intentional.’ I had ideas on what that would mean and look like, but things did not turn out quite like I imagined. The year, however, did provide different ways to be intentional. The year gave me the opportunity to be purposeful in my own relationship with God and family at home. It’s easy to get swept up in life and things ‘to do,’ and 2020 slowed things down and gave me the rest and focus perhaps I didn’t know I even needed. 2020 taught me to not take things or people for granted… to take the time to rest and focus… and how to truly be intentional with God and family.

This year, the word the Lord unexpectedly gave me was ‘uncomfortable.‘ I had been praying for a word and then one day, it came… and my immediate thought was “EW! Really, Lord? Uncomfortable!? That sounds as horrible as 2020.’

The Lord quickly brought to mind that loving Him is sometimes uncomfortable. Sometimes doing what’s right is hard. 2020 was a year of being home, which has it’s own comforts, especially for introverted people like me. This year, the Lord is calling me to step out of my comfort zone.

While stepping outside of comfort zone isn’t easy, it’s what we’re called to do. When I searched the definition of the word uncomfortable, I had to laugh a little when I saw one of the synonyms listed:

AWKWARD

It brought me right back to how the name Awkward Christian came to be. The truth is, I am awkward and mostly uncomfortable in many situations. We are also called to be different, peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9), which can also make us feel awkward in this world – but that’s not a bad thing!

The word the Lord gave me is a reminder that He can use me, as I am. I don’t have to be at ease, or completely self-confident, or even be comfortable doing what He has called me to be and do, I just need to be doing it. It may require some great effort and reliance on Him and His strength…. but that’s exactly the point!

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

-2 Corinthians 12:9-10