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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?

Join me for our annual Lead Loved Word Party! We will be gathering on Zoom to reflect together on our word of the year for 2022 and what God might be revealing to us for the new year!

I will be sharing about the spiritual practice of choosing a word of the year. Our Lead Loved team will also share some reflections before we break into small groups for sharing and prayer over your new year of leadership.

This is a free event next Saturday, January 7 at 10 am PT | 1 pm ET!

👉🏾Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lead-loved-word-party-2023-tickets-492119250927

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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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Meet Dorina

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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Recent Posts

  • An unexpected adoption: You are loved as God’s daughter February 15, 2023
  • Top 10 Books I Read in 2022 January 29, 2023
  • We Can Bear Witness to the Glory of God in Each Other December 21, 2022
  • Rejoice Advent Devotional: How strength rises when we wait December 19, 2022
  • Learning to trust the Potter and the process November 11, 2022

Popular Posts

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Today I got to watch my Zayla girl and her choir perform at CalPoly Performing Arts Center. What a great opportunity for these kids! I loved hearing all the choirs and the variety of pieces and styles they brought.

Afterwards we spent the afternoon with friends at Cayucos Beach and rounded out our day at one of my favorite restaurants Giuseppe’s at the Central Coast! Yummy!

These are the days I want to slow down, the days I want to savor and remember forever. My baby girl is not a baby girl anymore!

#oceantherapy #choirkid #momlife

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Mar 25

Open
Today I got to watch my Zayla girl and her choir perform at CalPoly Performing Arts Center. What a great opportunity for these kids! I loved hearing all the choirs and the variety of pieces and styles they brought. 
Afterwards we spent the afternoon with friends at Cayucos Beach and rounded out our day at one of my favorite restaurants Giuseppe’s at the Central Coast! Yummy! 
These are the days I want to slow down, the days I want to savor and remember forever. My baby girl is not a baby girl anymore! 
#oceantherapy #choirkid #momlife
19 1

Several months ago, I invited my friend to join me for a pottery class at a new local studio for her birthday present. We both love to try new things and were intrigued by the experience of using a potter’s wheel to create something out of clay.

The process of forming clay on the wheel was longer and harder than it looks.

The trick was to keep adding water to keep the clay supple and moldable. We pressed, pulled, and pinched until that ball of clay eventually became a bowl or vase.

Metaphors for life abound in the pottery studio.

A few times, the teacher came over, stuck her hands in front of me, and started to work with my clay. At first, I wanted to take control of the clay myself. I wanted to learn by doing it myself. But soon I realized the value in surrendering to her expertise. In fact, I learned a lot from watching my teacher and her techniques.

The first surprising lesson was that it requires lots of water to make a clay pot on a wheel. Clay is naturally hard and heavy, but water makes it workable.

Our souls are much the same. We need consistent hydration. We need the living water that only Jesus offers. On our own we are heavy, brittle; we are dust. With Jesus’s living water, we are malleable clay.

{Read the full devotion at DorinaGlorygram.Substack.com} #pottery #clay #potter #biblestudy #bibleverse #encouragingwords

View

Mar 24

Open
Several months ago, I invited my friend to join me for a pottery class at a new local studio for her birthday present. We both love to try new things and were intrigued by the experience of using a potter’s wheel to create something out of clay. 
The process of forming clay on the wheel was longer and harder than it looks.
The trick was to keep adding water to keep the clay supple and moldable. We pressed, pulled, and pinched until that ball of clay eventually became a bowl or vase. 
Metaphors for life abound in the pottery studio.
A few times, the teacher came over, stuck her hands in front of me, and started to work with my clay. At first, I wanted to take control of the clay myself. I wanted to learn by doing it myself. But soon I realized the value in surrendering to her expertise. In fact, I learned a lot from watching my teacher and her techniques.
The first surprising lesson was that it requires lots of water to make a clay pot on a wheel. Clay is naturally hard and heavy, but water makes it workable. 
Our souls are much the same. We need consistent hydration. We need the living water that only Jesus offers. On our own we are heavy, brittle; we are dust. With Jesus’s living water, we are malleable clay. 
{Read the full devotion at DorinaGlorygram.Substack.com} #pottery #clay #potter #biblestudy #bibleverse #encouragingwords
30 4

Such a good conversation tonight with @sarahrubiobooks about her new book, Her Story, Her Stength: 50 God Empowered Women of the Bible (@zonderkidz )

This is a book I wish I had when I was a young person. I love the way Sarah illuminates the stories and strengths of these diverse women in the Bible and how their stories point us back to God.

We pull back the curtain a bit tonight and dish about how Sarah got the idea for the book, the trials she faced during the writing, and the glory she experienced during the process!

👉🏾Which Ezer story is your favorite? Share in the comments about the woman from the Bible who inspires you! 📚

View

Mar 23

Open
Such a good conversation tonight with @sarahrubiobooks about her new book, Her Story, Her Stength: 50 God Empowered Women of the Bible (@zonderkidz )
This is a book I wish I had when I was a young person. I love the way Sarah illuminates the stories and strengths of these diverse women in the Bible and how their stories point us back to God.
We pull back the curtain a bit tonight and dish about how Sarah got the idea for the book, the trials she faced during the writing, and the glory she experienced during the process!
👉🏾Which Ezer story is your favorite? Share in the comments about the woman from the Bible who inspires you! 📚
21 3

I’m so excited to chat with @sarahrubiobooks on my Global Glory Chasers broadcast tomorrow about experiencing God’s glory through writing and reading kids books. Sarah’s new book is Her Story, Her Strength: 50 God-Empowered Women of the Bible. Join us at 5 pm PT | 8 pm ET here on IGlive!

Sarah Parker Rubio edits children’s and young adult books by day and writes them by night. She was born in the United States, grew up in Costa Rica and Ecuador, and now has a bilingual and bicultural family with her husband, Colombian composer Gary Rubio. They live in Cincinnati with their three wonderful children and two sassy cats.

In a world that too often tells girls that they are not enough, Her Story, Her Strength uses biblical retellings and reflections that include the historical context behind each story to remind young women that they have a God who loves them deeply and empowers them to live and love like he does. For any girl ages 8 and up who is asking questions about her worth, identity, and place in the world and church, this colorful and engaging book provides a positive, loving, and scriptural lens that helps them interpret the messages they receive from their peers, media, and society.

#kidlit #womenshistorymonth #womenofthebible #womensupportingwomen

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Mar 22

Open
I’m so excited to chat with @sarahrubiobooks on my Global Glory Chasers broadcast tomorrow about experiencing God’s glory through writing and reading kids books. Sarah’s new book is Her Story, Her Strength: 50 God-Empowered Women of the Bible. Join us at 5 pm PT | 8 pm ET here on IGlive!
Sarah Parker Rubio edits children’s and young adult books by day and writes them by night. She was born in the United States, grew up in Costa Rica and Ecuador, and now has a bilingual and bicultural family with her husband, Colombian composer Gary Rubio. They live in Cincinnati with their three wonderful children and two sassy cats.
In a world that too often tells girls that they are not enough, Her Story, Her Strength uses biblical retellings and reflections that include the historical context behind each story to remind young women that they have a God who loves them deeply and empowers them to live and love like he does. For any girl ages 8 and up who is asking questions about her worth, identity, and place in the world and church, this colorful and engaging book provides a positive, loving, and scriptural lens that helps them interpret the messages they receive from their peers, media, and society.
#kidlit #womenshistorymonth #womenofthebible #womensupportingwomen
38 1

“Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory,” Mama sings. 🎶

Glory?, Zayla thinks, wrinkling her nose, “Mama, we talk and sing about glory at church, but what exactly is glory?”

“Well, that’s a good question,” Mama says with a broad smile. “Let’s go look for it.”

____

These are the opening lines to my new children’s book, Chasing God’s Glory. When my three daughters were little, we started going on glory-chasing hunts together. This was the way we would lift our heads to see God at work on ordinary days and difficult days.

The word glory is mentioned more than 500 times in Scripture. If we study the scriptures that mention it, we discover God’s glory is the very essence of who God is, His character. Glory is what sets God apart. It’s the way God reveals Himself to us. It’s His presence.

Back in 2014, I chose the word glory as my word of the year. Little did I know that this single, five-letter word would be the thing God would use to transform me, inspire me, lift me, and carry me through the most difficult year of my life. This would be the beginning of tracing His glory story in the most unexpected narrative.

I had to train myself to notice  God’s glory around me through tragedy and triumph. That was the year my husband was diagnosed with stage four cancer. That was the year my lover leaped into Heaven – the ultimate Glory – leaving me a widow with three small children. That was the year I experienced God’s glory in little girl giggles, home-cooked meals, and road trips. That was the year He showed up for us through our community who served us, fed us, collected money for medical bills, and lifted us.

God has shown me that glory is the very beginning of the story and also the grand finale…

{Read more about it at @incourage today and enter for a chance to win my new book!} 🫶🏾🚴📚🍀🌊🥰

#chasinggodsglory #glorychasers #kidslit #picturebook @waterbrookmultnomahkids #newbook #glory #creation

View

Mar 21

Open
“Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory,” Mama sings. 🎶 
Glory?, Zayla thinks, wrinkling her nose, “Mama, we talk and sing about glory at church, but what exactly is glory?”
“Well, that’s a good question,” Mama says with a broad smile. “Let’s go look for it.” 
____ 
These are the opening lines to my new children’s book, Chasing God’s Glory. When my three daughters were little, we started going on glory-chasing hunts together. This was the way we would lift our heads to see God at work on ordinary days and difficult days. 
The word glory is mentioned more than 500 times in Scripture. If we study the scriptures that mention it, we discover God’s glory is the very essence of who God is, His character. Glory is what sets God apart. It’s the way God reveals Himself to us. It’s His presence. 
Back in 2014, I chose the word glory as my word of the year. Little did I know that this single, five-letter word would be the thing God would use to transform me, inspire me, lift me, and carry me through the most difficult year of my life. This would be the beginning of tracing His glory story in the most unexpected narrative. 
I had to train myself to notice  God’s glory around me through tragedy and triumph. That was the year my husband was diagnosed with stage four cancer. That was the year my lover leaped into Heaven – the ultimate Glory – leaving me a widow with three small children. That was the year I experienced God’s glory in little girl giggles, home-cooked meals, and road trips. That was the year He showed up for us through our community who served us, fed us, collected money for medical bills, and lifted us. 
God has shown me that glory is the very beginning of the story and also the grand finale…
{Read more about it at @incourage today and enter for a chance to win my new book!} 🫶🏾🚴📚🍀🌊🥰
#chasinggodsglory #glorychasers #kidslit #picturebook @waterbrookmultnomahkids #newbook #glory #creation
53 14
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