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Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young

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Lessons from soaring: A new word for a new year

I fell into a rhythm in December. I didn’t make any real plans or resolutions. I didn’t chart a path. I laced up my running shoes and headed out my front door with one thing in mind: soul care.

After an intense year, I knew I needed to change my pace. This year my husband and I wrote and launched a book baby. We started a podcast while both of us were working from home. We turned our house into a school for our three daughters – one in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary school. We welcomed my parents to stay with us.

We also navigated a global pandemic. We reckoned with political division and racial tension in our own community and beyond. We serpentined our way through disappointment, loss, and fear. We carried our daily decision fatigue like a heavy backpack filled with boulders.

When I arrived at December 1, I felt the exhaustion in my body and deep in the recesses of my heart.

My feet hit the trail as a reprieve. I’m usually the type who loves to explore new routes, seek out new scenery, and embrace new challenges. In December, I ran the same path three days a week for six miles. I listened to the same Christmas album and playlist every time.

My feet crunched through the golden leaves and my eyes followed the light skipping across the water.

My soul calmed.

There was something truly soothing about finding the cadence of breath and steps again. I didn’t have to think about where to go or for how long. I didn’t push the pace or fixate on the miles. I simply ran.

And my body slipped into muscle memory. I could breathe again. The tightness between my shoulder blades relaxed. The heaviness lifted one run at a time.

Back in January, I chose the word “soar” as my word theme for 2020. This has been a spiritual practice in my life for more than a decade. I listen and look for a word that God might use to teach me. I follow that word through the year. I reflect, read the Bible, copy down quotes, and write about what I’m learning.

Of course, every year I choose a word and by December I am surprised at the lessons I’ve learned from following that word. It’s never what I hoped, imagined, or predicted back in January. It always involves surrendering, reckoning and deepening my relationship with the One who was and is the Word from beginning to end.

I discovered in 2020 that soaring is much more nuanced than I thought. It’s not just spreading our wings and taking off. Soaring involves waiting, preparing, and discerning.

Soaring means laying down our tendency to strive and hustle.

It means less lifting and more letting go.

It means waiting and being watchful for where God might be leading and allowing Him to strengthen our souls before the just-right wind takes us to new heights.

Isaiah 40, the passage that also inspired my new Walk Run Soar devotional, has become a theme for me this year. In each new season of 2020, these verses have kaleidoscoped into more brilliant color:

“He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.”

(Isaiah 40:29-31, NIV).

In verse 31, the word “hope” is also translated “wait” in English. In Hebrew, the word is “qavah,” meaning “to bind together, to be joined, to meet, to expect, to be confident, trust, endure.” In so many ways, this is what I’ve been learning to do in 2020. Tara-Leigh Cobble explains in The Bible Recap, “The image here is more than just an expression of time; it’s an expression of unity. It’s about relationship – knowing Him, trusting His character.”

Hoping and waiting on God is not passive. It’s an invitation to lean into God’s arms, to be joined with Him, to meet with Him regularly. I’ve found that in this active waiting that He restores and renews strength.

Hoping and waiting on God is not passive. It’s an invitation to lean into God’s arms, to be joined with Him, to meet with Him regularly.

-Dorina Lazo Gilmore-YOung

Whether you are waiting for an answer, waiting for healing, waiting for a child, waiting for a job promotion, or just waiting for this pandemic to be over, know that your waiting has purpose.

I’ve learned in 2020 that the real heart work of soaring is in the waiting. Honestly, it’s counterintuitive for me. I’m an activator. My creativity gets revved up in movement, in chasing dreams and casting vision. I’m an external processor, an enthusiast, a gatherer of people. These personality traits have been challenged in 2020. As we have sheltered-at-home for most of the year and limited our travel, I’ve felt disconnected from my people. I’ve felt clumsy and sometimes frustrated like a baby bird bumbling along, trying to learn how to fly.

I’ve turned inward, processing quietly with God, journaling more, sitting in silence, whispering breath prayers in the shower or on the trail. Surprisingly, these practices have served to renew me even in the midst of chaos, uncertainty, and decision fatigue. I want to carry these intentionally into the new year. I don’t want to go back to “normal life” or “life as it was” because of these lessons learned on the journey of 2020.

These last few months, I’ve noticed a new word bubbling to the surface. It always happens this way for me. I notice a word appearing in different places – in the pages of scripture, in art, in conversation, and in my heart.

This year I’m exploring the word “chosen.” The dictionary tells me it means “one who is the object of choice or of divine favor.”

It’s a strange word. I don’t know how I feel about it really except that it’s a concept peppered throughout the Bible. I want to learn more about it. I want to embrace the purpose God has chosen for me. Recently, I remembered that my friend and Bible study leader told me she was praying this word over me this year. She planted the seed of this word in the soil of my heart garden early in the year.

This morning I read these words just a few chapters later in Isaiah 43:

“‘You are my witnesses,’ declares the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he” (Isaiah 43: 10, ESV).

We may have flipped the calendar to a new month and a new year, but the reality is we still have a lot of wreckage to reckon with in 2021. As much as we are longing for a fresh start, there may be a lot of the same. Yet, I hear the echoes of Isaiah’s prophecy calling me and calling you to be witnesses. God will prevail even through our present challenges. We are chosen to know, believe, and understand who He is and to reflect His glory to a weary and wandering world.

Will you join me?

On Saturday, January 30, I’m hosting the Lead Loved 2021 Word Party for women leaders online at 10 am. Join us for this conversation about choosing a word for your year and time of prayer together. Details here.

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January 1, 2021 Categories: Navigating Grief, RunningTagged: soar, WalkRunSoar

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mara says

    January 1, 2021 at 6:58 pm

    I love the idea of soaring as this beautiful blend between rest and effort—both at the same time, almost paradoxically, as with so many aspects of God’s reality. Thank you!

    Reply
  2. Bev Ford says

    January 6, 2021 at 2:23 pm

    I relate to the decision fatigue in 2020 and the wonderful way life-giving rituals can combat that. I have taken to running as soul care as well. I also enjoy lighting my advent candles during breakfast and time with the Lord. Rituals/rhythms allow me to feel some joyful structure in a unpredictable world. They might change monthly, but they are intentional and related to self care.

    Reply
  3. Caron Igoe says

    February 8, 2021 at 5:42 pm

    You are a wonderful storyteller. I really like the idea of having a word to focus on and learn about throughout the year. It gives me something to look forward to. Thanks for sharing this great idea with us.

    Reply

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Aloha, friend! If you love stories, you are in the right place. I write about grief, glory, running, food, and more. I hope these words inspire you to chase after God’s glory in your life today!

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This summer our Giada is trying something new. She joined the Fresno Flyers Track Club. This means a little more competition for our girl and more ...

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This summer our Giada is trying something new. She joined the Fresno Flyers Track Club. This means a little more competition for our girl and more travel for our family.
This weekend we watched our girl compete in the West Coast Nationals in Reno, NV. She snagged: 
👉🏾3rd in her heat in the 100 and 200 meters with 11th overall in both
👉🏾2nd place in her heat for 7th overall in the 400 meters, which got her a medal and a 2.75-second personal record! 🥈 
🏃🏾‍♀️If you’ve been around here for a minute, you know @shawnyoungruns and I are running coaches and enthusiasts. Truth be told, we’d be proud of her no matter what place she got. It’s a true joy to see our child run for His glory! 🏃🏾‍♀️I know her daddy is smiling from heaven! 
🥳 Is there something your kids do that brings you joy?! Share in the comments. 
#trackfam #trackandfield #trackgirls #glorychasers #walkrunsoar
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Hey friend, I’m ba-ack! This week we are Walking Through His Word together in Psalm 91. If you are feeling weary or facing some challenges this ...

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Hey friend, I’m ba-ack! This week we are Walking Through His Word together in Psalm 91. If you are feeling weary or facing some challenges this week, these words were penned for you.
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The psalmist reminds us that God is our:
1️⃣refuge
2️⃣shelter
3️⃣fortress
4️⃣deliverer
5️⃣covering
6️⃣rescuer
Sometimes we feel like we have to do all the things when really we are called to trust God to be all the things for us!
“When he calls me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him.” - Psalm 91:15
👉🏾How does psalm 91 encourage you today?! Share in the comments. 
#biblestudy #psalms #devotional #womenoftheword #bibleverse
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“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” - Psalm 90:12
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Todays psalm takes us all the way back to the time ...

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“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” - Psalm 90:12
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Todays psalm takes us all the way back to the time when the Israelites were about to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land. This psalm from the pen of Moses reminds us that life is short. None of us is promised tomorrow.
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Friends, this psalm serves as a pertinent reminder that today is the day to return to God, to rejoice = return to joy, to ask Him to establish the work of our hands (instead of trying to pull it all together by ourselves!)
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👉🏾How does Psalm 91 encourage your heart?
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#devotional #psalm #womenoftheword #bibkestudy #incourage #hopewriters #christianwomenspeaker
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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we live in fractured times. The pandemic forced us to distance ourselves and isolate. Politics and hot button issues have created a wide divide. Church hurt has caused us to withdraw and question. We’ve lost our value for doing life together.
I believe we are going to have to reimagine community in order to survive this next season. We are going to have to prune and cultivate, to bear each other’s burdens around the table and tend to each other’s wounds in the garden. We need to support each other and root ourselves anew in rich soul.
The word flourish means “to thrive, to grow luxuriantly, to grow in excellence and influence.” I don’t know about you, but I long to flourish in this one life I have to live. And even more I would love to be planted in a garden of people flourishing all around me. God designed us to flourish together!
🌺Is there someone you have been disconnected with for a while that you could reach out to today? Is there a friend or a neighbor you could invite over for tea or a meal? Let’s lean in to bloom where we’re planted in community. 🪴☕️ 
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👉🏾SAVE or SHARE this post if you found it valuable!
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#chaisisters #flourishingtogether #community #communitylife #jesusgirl #hopewriters #bloomwhereyouareplanted #womemoftheword #bettertogether #incourage
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Today we are marching through Psalm 89. This one is dense with reminders that God is awesome, faithful, and brimming with steadfast love for us!
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Today we are marching through Psalm 89. This one is dense with reminders that God is awesome, faithful, and brimming with steadfast love for us!
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I love the call and response and the honest questions that Hubble to the surface in this psalm. The people are struggling. They are wondering when God is going to show up to rescue them.
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This psalm invites us to 3 things:
1️⃣sing
2️⃣question
3️⃣trust
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👉🏾What resonates with you today?
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#prayer #psalms #devotional #womenoffaith #propelwomen #hopewriters #incourage #david
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