It’s no exaggeration when I say that 2022 owes me nothing. I had some challenges and moments that felt like setbacks; however, I came out on top every time. 2022 taught me a lot about myself: how I respond under pressure, where my faith was in situations, and some positive negative factors of my heart. I have a lot of takeaways but here are the top three:

1-Grudges are just as much about the mind as the heart

I noticed that grudges continued brewing for as long as I “villanized” people– focused on their wrongs towards me and their character flaws. It was counterproductive to forgive because zooming in on their offensive ways made it easier to harbor negative thoughts. The scales tipped when I thought of the positive aspects: that the good outweighed the negative and that offenses were not the only things present in those encounters and relationships. 

2-Prepare for an unorthodox journey when you walk with God

I have a saying, “God is not obvious.” It means that we can’t calculate God’s next move despite how “logical” it seems it should be. Last summer God told me that everyone’s journey is different including my own. There are some routes to getting to God’s promises that others may not understand (or agree with) but if you are following God’s plan, that’s okay.

3- Build your “word” from year-to-year

God gave me one word coming into 2020. I didn’t ask Him what he wanted me to do with the word or gain from it. I assumed it wanted me to “create it.” I was so wrong in my assumptions. The next year came and I asked Him for another word because of the impact from the year before. It wasn’t until the other day that I realized that the words from “each year” should be building blocks and not just words for a single year (Duh, Marisha!). This shouldn’t be confused with time or seasons as changes will occur in our lives. Some assignments will have expiration dates but be sure to remember what you’ve learned from one place in God to another.