My word for 2021 is "Possibility." It came to me last year, just before Christmas as I was investing time in my friendship with Jesus. I read the words “With God nothing is impossible.” These words were spoken to Mary by the angel as she received the news that she would give birth to Jesus. 

Fast forward to today, in my mind, and heart there is a daily hovering over the word Possibility. Let me invite you to join me for a few minutes; invest a few of your thoughts in what is possible because of God. (That is literally everything by the way.)

When the word or idea of possibility is attached to negative circumstances it cripples us, giving strength to the three most powerful and faith destroying tools Satan has ever used: Shame, Fear, and Anger.

When the word or idea of possibility is attached primarily to our circumstances, it gives birth to hopes' cheap substitute, optimism. Hope is sure. Optimism is speculative. Hope is anchored in who God is and what He is accomplishing. Optimism is a temporary deal we try to work with God - that if everything works out, life will be bearable at worst and better at best. (Just so you know, God is up to so much more than our comfort.)

For me, the word possibility is one of the most hope-filled words I can use. Hope is not the idea that all will be well. But that God is good even when all is not well. Hope is not the expectation that reward will come. But that in Christ, the reward has come. Hope is the reality that the end of the journey is restoration and reconciliation with our creator - Jesus Christ, our living hope. Hope happens in us when we are convinced that God is the God of the impossible. 

He is not the master of “against all odds” because, with God, the odds have never NOT been on his side. He is the author and finisher of faith. He is Alpha (beginning) and Omega (end). He is the one that death could not hold, sin could not defeat, Satan could not conquer and he has never been and never will be the underdog.

Possibility ignites hope when I see my life through the lens of God’s mission and his power to accomplish that mission. He will do it. 

Leader, friend, and partner with God, followers of Jesus, sons, and daughters of the Most-High God, everything God is sending your way drips with the possibility of Him completing His mission in and through you.

So here is how I am applying these thoughts and acting in light of the word possibility:

I am looking. I am looking for any and every possibility that can lean into the glory to God, doing a rescue mission that was initiated by God before the world ever began, announced by God when sin entered this world, implemented by God through Abraham, accomplished by Christ through His death and resurrection and commissioned by God in His church to go to the ends of the world. 

I am seizing. I want to walk by faith and not by sight. To walk this way, I must embrace what is possible because of Christ. 

I am creating. What is possible for me was created by others who looked and seized possibility. I stand on their shoulders. Stepping into faith often requires leaders to prayerfully and humbly create opportunities. Loving God and loving others is how we create possibility.

I am offering. It is my prayer that my life, words, actions, and character offer others an invitation to know God for whom nothing is impossible. 

When the angel declared to Mary that with God all things are possible, it was not simply a statement that God can work a miracle in your womb, but that God was keeping his promise in a broken world that he would indeed come to the rescue. He was adding a virgin birth to the reality that God’s amazing rescue plan is possible and that He can and will accomplish His mission.

For me, the word possibility is not against all odds. Maybe if everything comes together, without too many hurdles, life will be okay. The word possibility is a word that says: when living into the very mission of God (which is to rescue the world from the brokenness of sin, to reunite people to their creator, and to restore friendship with God), becoming a partner with God is to look, seize, create and offer what is possible on this mission.