Words delight and sustain me. They dance with me and befriend me and take me on escapades. They’re everywhere. In poems and stories, conversations and films. And best of all…they’re inside my head, twirling together to capture a sunset sky or breathe a character to life or build a walled city, not with bricks but with whisps of imagination.

As a wordsmith, words are my joy.

Which is why I particularly love the gift God has been giving me the last while—a word for the year. And, maybe because God knows how much I treasure them, he has sometimes given me more than one. Last year I had two words—steady and magnify. These words wove into my life, sometimes challenging or convicting me. Sometimes reminding me of truths I had forgotten. Mostly, though, supporting me. It was a year that required steadiness in my relationship with God, in bringing my book Soul Search into the world, and in navigating difficult personal and societal terrain. It was also the year that God reminded me that my writing and life must magnify Him.

I came to 2022 with a fair amount of anticipation to see just what word, or two, God would impress on my mind and heart. Imagine my delight to have three words come into sharp focus. I’m only just starting to journey with these words but I’ve already discovered them appearing in Bible verses, books I’m reading and passages friends share with me. As steady and magnify were connected—to magnify God would require steadiness in my walk and work—these three words are also lacing together to form something more substantial.

I’ve wanted to share my trio of words with you sooner but two things have held me back. The first is that I have started writing another novel and it’s taking up a lot of headroom! A few years have passed since I wrote The Poison Tree Path Chronicles and I had forgotten just how wonderful it is to lose oneself in creating a world and characters. This is a book I’ve begun writing twice before but I never had the right point-of-view character and therefore I ground to a halt both times. This time the main character that has come to life is one strong enough to carry the story and Tawaassi and I are forging ahead to tell the vast story she finds herself in.

The second reason I have waited this long to share my words for the year is that I feel I haven’t unpacked them well enough yet. However, since writing is the best way for me to process my thoughts, over the next few blog posts I’ll dive in and share my three words and the insights I’m gaining as I live into them.

So now I’m doing that thing that novelists love to do—and readers bemoan us for—which is keeping you in suspense just a little longer!

Watch this space next week when I unveil my first word for 2022.