Each year I choose “One Word” to help focus and define the days ahead.  This time I was quite challenged.  I had prayed and thought and talked and listened and waited.  Finally, the word was made plain to me.  It would be a year to perservere.

I was quite surprised at the many different words that mean the same thing as I looked for the One Verse that would underscore 2020 for me.  I chose James 1:4 and found that persevere can be translated as patience, endurance, steadfastness, strength, and wait(ing).

Although the NIV is my preferred translation for memorization (as seen above) the VOICE Bible with its preceding verses was quite interesting.

• Don’t run from tests and hardships, brothers and sisters. As difficult as they are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if you embrace them, your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you true patience as you endure. And true patience brought on by endurance will equip you to complete the long journey and cross the finish line—mature, complete, and wanting nothing.

The MESSAGE, another favorite of mine adds to the meaning, also.

• Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.        John 1:2-4

The New Living Translation says it like this,

• Learn well how to wait so you will be strong and complete and in need of nothing.

It looks like I’m going to have an interesting and busy year. Hopefully, the joys and the challenges will be tempered with a new sense of perseverance.

Blessings to you and yours!

Marie