My word for 2020 – healing

By Diane Strack, Voices Contributor Wednesday, January 01, 2020

It’s kind of trendy right now to contemplate any changes we might like to make personally or professionally and think of a theme word for the year ahead. As I reflect on 2019 and look at all the hurt and pain being dealt with and acted out on social media, I have decided the best word for 2020 is “healing.” This word perfectly encapsulates what we need as individual women and also as a society.

Where might this healing begin? The first and best way is through prayer. Not just alone in my prayer closet, but for, by and with other women. For this next year, I’m going to renew my efforts to have an active, vital prayer life, with times of both individual, private prayer, and times of praying together with other women, for the healing that we need personally and collectively.

I’m reminded of two key points from the Bible on the subject of prayer and accountability with others. First is Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (NIV), which states that: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

Don’t you love how “spot on” these biblical analogies are? Can you just picture your friend reaching back and giving you a hand up if you stumble and fall? Or remember those childhood camp-outs where you slept much warmer snuggled up in your sleeping bag next to your parents, sibling or best friend? And in this day of brokenness, how strengthening is it to envision that thick coil of rope bound together from many individual strands, able to withstand the greatest weights or pressures without tearing? This is why it is so important and so empowering for our prayer life to find others with whom we can join in prayer and to whom we can be accountable.

Secondly, I’m reminded of James 5:16, where it says: “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man (or woman) avails much.” I especially appreciate that word fervent. You’ve been there, haven’t you, praying on bended knees, face to the floor, barely knowing the words to say because the need is so great? Isn’t it reassuring to know God hears those prayers, and they are powerful? They accomplish much, it says. Even if we don’t feel they reach above the ceiling, we can trust God’s Word is true, and we can keep on praying.

I’m excited about the opportunity to give my prayer life a fresh start for 2020, by focusing on “healing.” So many times we pray for physical healing for our friends and loved ones, but for this year, I’m praying for emotional and spiritual healing for those around me who are feeling so much pain, anger and bitterness. There is a lot of hurt in this world, but we also know there is a Healer who can lift those burdens and bring peace and joy in the midst of our suffering.

I’m especially looking forward to lifting my prayers for healing in the company of hundreds of thousands of women across the country as we join together for She Loves Out Loud, a historic, interactive live-streamed prayer event on Feb. 15, 2020, broadcast FREE from the Life Today studios in Dallas. If two or three women praying together is powerful, can you imagine what 200,000 or 300,000 of us could do? Or even 2 or 3 million? See how you can join with other women or even host your own group and become involved in the livestream at www.shelovesoutloud.org. And collectively, we can bring healing to our nation in 2020.

Diane Strack is president of She Loves Out Loud, a movement and event which encourages groups of women across the nation to gather in their homes, churches and workplaces to pray for healing, unity and restoration for women worldwide. The national livestream event will occur on Feb. 15, 2020. See www.shelovesoutloud.org for more information.