Hi friends, can you believe that we are already one week into the new year? Already I bet some of you have broken some of your resolutions, I know I have.

But I wanted to share with you today something that I’m going to be focusing on this year here at From Blacktop to Dirt Road, and I hope you will want to join me.

A lot of times you will see people choose an inspirational word of the year, and I’ve chosen one for myself and the blog, too. This year the word that we are going to be focusing our hearts on is “desperation.” Now you might be thinking that this doesn’t sound like a very inspirational word, or one that even sounds positive. But I think once I explain why I chose this, you will understand a little bit more.

Often times, as mothers and wives, we find ourselves pretty desperate. We are desperate for sleep, desperate to feel like we’re enough, desperate to be understood, and desperate for peace. And more often than not, we look everywhere other than where we should be to find these things we’re so desperate for.

Have you ever heard the story about the woman who bled for 12 years? Yeah, 12 years. I can just imagine how your jaw is dropping as I’m telling you this. Can you imagine that ladies? Twelve years! We read in Luke 8 about this woman who was desperate for Jesus. As Jesus was making his way to the house of Jarius, there were huge crowds surrounding him as he walked. They were pushing around Jesus as he walked and this woman was amongst the crowds. She knew that this was her once chance to be healed of her bleeding. She had already spent all of her savings going to doctors trying to heal her of her bleeding, she was an outcast in society. And she was ashamed of her condition, it was something that back then women didn’t dare talk about in public. But in her shame, in her desperation for healing, she had faith… that if she could just touch the hem of His garment, Jesus would heal her.

Starting in verse 44, we read what happens in the moment she touches Him.

“She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me.” And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed.  And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

The woman who had bled for 12 years… was healed. And she went forth in the peace that only her Savior could give her.

All because of desperation.

So how does the woman in the crowds relate to us? I don’t have to tell you that these years are long, sweet friend. And the nights are even longer. But when you are at your weakest, your most desperate… all you need to do is call out for His name. Call out in conviction and hope, knowing that He will give you what you need to be the mama you need to be in this moment to get through today, and the next day, and the one after that.

God longs to meet us in our desperation, sweet friends. So this year we are going to be desperate for Jesus. You are going to be seeing This theme of desperation through a lot of my posts and videos and my hope in doing this is that it will help you and I constantly be pointing our hearts back to the One Who created us to be desperate for His holiness and His presence in our lives.

I can’t wait to see what 2018 has for us, friends. There is going to be lots of encouragement, of course a lot of laughs, and probably some stalking of Joanna Gaines as she gets ready to have her baby. But the most important thing we are going to do here at From Blacktop to Dirt Road is encourage you, the everyday mama and wife, to find the Father in your life and let Him transform you in the way that only He can.

photo by J. Haus Photography