I’m reading all sorts of updates—heart-warming, faith-building accounts of how a single word guided someone for the whole year. Which reminds me. I failed miserably. I lost my focus on this word, forgot all about it except for this update in Sept.

And yet. When God is behind something, it’s more about Him than about me. I may not always be faithful, but He is.

When I think about turning, I think about change. About a whirlwind of motion. An ever-changing view. And I had that. He gave me that.

My dad was diagnosed with cancer. But his last biopsy and scope showed no cancer cells. Tim was unemployed half the year, and was over-employed (tons of hours) the second half. I worked so hard and so fast that I could barely make out the view of the things whirling by me.

And my mind—it never stopped spinning. I wrote and rewrote, and edited again. I learned and listened. I read and read and questioned and reasoned. I planned and developed. I will soon be releasing a book that is so much denser, so much richer, than I ever imagined.

This was not a year for me to close in, to focus internally. It was a year of movement. A year of spinning, careening, from one place to the next. Good emotions to bad. Intense, powerful moments with God and days, weeks of hardly noticing Him. But here’s what I found in the midst of that fast pace: We don’t have to be sitting alone in a quiet room, eyes closed, to meet God. I think sometimes we should focus more on doing for Him, not preparing to do. Don’t talk about writing. Just write. Don’t talk about serving. Get out there and talk to people, and opportunities to serve will present themselves. Don’t hold God back for yourself. Interact with people and let them see Him.

I’m not in any way saying that quiet times are bad. Nor am I suggesting filling your schedule with too many activities. Maybe I’m attempting to justify my less-than-ideal discipline. But deep down, I believe that God orchestrated the events and activities and people that filled my year. He opened up possibilities, revealed new insights, and answered prayers at every turn—above and beyond, in most cases. I don’t expect to have “one word” for 2015. But I do know, already, that for me this will be a year of prayer. Of seeking Him, and receiving answers. Of drawing close to the people taking this journey with me and lifting them up to the One who can help. Of praying that my book will soften hearts, reveal God, inspire and change. Of praying that other people find in my words what I found when I wrote them: God, through and through. Always changing, ever-present, moving and transforming, turning what is broken and hurting into something whole. A veritable whirlwind of light and love and power.

And all God’s people said AMEN.