Word of the Year for 2015

Hope is what is needed...

When you lose your job

When you lose a friend

When you your health falls apart

When you are devastated

When a spouse walks out

When a child rebels {and that child is yours}

When you are grieving

When all of life turns on you...

Hope is the answer to keep going. These days I am in a season of hope. Waiting to see what God will do with the pieces that remain. I have gone through the hard grief. I have worked through a lot of the hurt. I have moved into a phase of healing. Now is the time to hope. A time to wait in expectation for what God will do in my life.

We all need hope whether you are currently experiencing a devastation or you are like me...in the recovery period. We all need a reason to hang on just a little longer. I know I do more than ever in my life. So this year I am focusing on hope. It will be my Word of the Year for 2015.

Are you hurting? In need of something to hang onto? Will you join me this year as I explore hope? I will be continuing what I started in 2014, Verses of Hope, in which I focus on a verse or two of God's Word that have the potential to give us hope.

Here are the verses that I have already written about, and you can always go to the top of the blog and click on the tab "Verses of Hope" to find them all. It is my prayer that they will help you through whatever you may be going through.

If you are going through the process of healing from a devastating hurt (or simply a hurt that won't let go), there are other resources here for you. Please check these out...

Healing the Wounded Heart

Hope and Healing {A Book List}

Five Ways to Heal

Five Ways to Deal with Anxiety and Depression

So join me as I journey towards hope...

I am linking up with 

My Word of the Year for 2010

Last year for the first time I picked a Word of the Year which many of the women on the FIAR boards do each year.  This is a word/concept that you focus on for the year.  My word for 2009 was patience.  This year I have decided to go with the word "prayer".

I am looking forward to learning more about prayer and seeing what prayer can do in my life this year.  Here are some resources that I will be using as I focus on the concept of prayer...

Candace at His Mercy is New has written a post on prayer.

Beth Moore's book Praying God's Word

These prayer cards from NavPress...I have used these a lot over the past several years. Our church was handing them out and I loved the concept.

A Prayer Journal-I want to record my prayers and when/how they were answered.

Here are some of the books that Candace at His Mercy is New recommended to me...I am going to look into these this coming year...

Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home

Waiting on God

Praying the Scriptures for Your Children (I also have two long lists of scriptures that I have used in the past to pray over my kids...I will be sharing those on my blog soon).

So, have you chosen a Word of the Year?  What will it be...what will you focus on?  Join me throughout 2010 as I go on this journey.

How was February? (Goals for 2009)

Here is how February went for me...

Weight Loss-I am down about 5 or 6 pounds since I started losing weight.

Bible Verse Memorization-This has been slow going this month....I memorized only a couple of verses. I think I have been sidetracked with other projects and therefore, forget to work on them.

Scrapbooking-I haven't done anything in our family albums except to get some pictures developed! Hardly what I would call working on an album! But I did complete a gift album that I will be giving to a dear friend later this month.

Patience-This has gone much better this month! I am learning to accept that not everything can be done as quickly as I hoped. Patience with the boys has been a lot better even though we have had some struggles discipline wise.

How was January? (Goals for 2009)

So here is an update on how I met (or didn't meet) my goals in January. Here are my goals for 2009 and what happened during this month in regards to them.

Weight Loss I have lost a couple of pounds! Wish it had been more, but I will take a loss over a gain!

Scrapbooking Ok, this hasn't gone so well. This month has been crazy with the loss of my friend's house to a fire. I haven't had much time to myself so the scrapbooking has gone by the wayside. I do have a project in the works. I will be making an album for a friend to be given to her in a couple of months. I will start this album as soon as my supplies arrive from Creative Memories.

Bible Verse Memorization This goal has gone much better than expected! I have memorized the following verses:

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Phil 4:8

9 He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. Prov. 17:9

3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Is. 26:3

31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. I Cor 10:31

Listening to the New Testament I haven't focused on this goal much at all. I have only listened to the first 6 chapters of Matthew.

Patience (My word for 2009) Another goal I have greatly struggled with especially in the parenting area. I need to refocus on what is really important in regards to relating to my kids.

Have a little Makrothumia!

Many of the women on the FIAR boards and the HSS boards pick a word for the year to focus on in their lives. I decided to take the plunge this year and picked patience. Ok, I know I am nuts...you know what they say...never, ever pray for patience because that is when God will give you plenty of opportunities to use it! But seriously, this is an area of my life that is lacking. I sat down today and did a mini-study on patience and what it means....little did I know how lacking patience is in my life!

Here is the dictionary definition: The bearing of pain without complaining, loss of temper, or irritation. Suppressing annoyance when confronted with delay. I don't do either of these really well!

In the Bible the word patience is translated as "makrothumia". It is the same word used in Galatians 5:22 as one of the fruits of the Spirit. Makrothumia comes from two Greek words: "makro" which means "long" and "thumia" which means "anger"...so "makrothumia" means "long anger" or in other words, taking a long time to get angry. Makrothumia specifically deals with patience with people, an area where I need to work on.

Judgment is the opposite of patience...think about it... God demonstrates His patience by waiting on us and not passing immediate judgment. But for us humans it is so easy to judge....how do we fight our natural tendency to judge?....with mercy (James 2:13). What is mercy? Basically it is forgiveness. And what is forgiveness? The Greek word for forgiveness in the Bible literally means "to set loose". We let the other person go that offended us by not paying them back for what they have done. Interestingly, unforgiveness would be tying ourselves to the very person we can't stand...but by forgiving them...we release them and ourselves!

So my simple choice of "patience" for the year isn't that simple at all...it involves a non-judgmental attitude, mercy and forgiveness. I know that the only way I can show patience is God living through me...after all patience is a fruit of the Spirit...it is the Spirit that provides the patience.

Goals for 2009 (HOTM Meme)

I have been thinking of what goals I should have for the New Year...here is what I am planning to do.

**Lose 10 lbs. I have been working on this. I haven't gained any weight since Thanksgiving, but haven't really lost either. For me, exercising is not a problem. I get that in 3 to 4 times a week. It is the eating part that I struggle with.

**My goal for 2008 was to read through the Bible. Well, I have almost completed that goal. This comes as a total shock to me that I followed through on this!!!!! I have tried to do this so many times and failed. This year my goal is to listen to the New Testament instead of read the whole Bible. My brother and sister-in-law gave us the NT on cd's so that we can listen to it.

**Scripture memorization. I have wanted to do this for several years, but quite frankly my brain is getting old and I don't/can't memorize like I use to. I am going to use this system.

**Scrapbook more to catch up on my albums.

**My word for 2009 will be "patience". Patience has always been a hard thing for me. I am a very impatient person. Patience with people and myself will be my focus for the year.

**My goal is to blog about my goals! I will try to update how I am doing from time to time. It will keep me accountable which is good.