Happy New Year!

I am defintely not one for New Year's Resolutions. Something about resolutions and goal setting has always given this laid back mama the heebie-geebies. The thought of setting a goal and having steps to accomplish said goal, either makes me want to take a nap, or panic, or eat lots of candy.

However, come New Year's Eve, I always feel a little left out with no resolution to share. So, last year, I prayed that God would give me a word for the year. That is about as much as I can handle goal-wise. One word to set my focus. One word to fall back on and mull over.

For 2010, He gave me HOPE. This was a cool challenge for me as my grown-up self is not prone to hope- more likely to doubt or fret, than hope. When faced with an unknown outcome, I chose to hope for the better outcome instead of expecting the worst. And you know what- I loved it! It truly did change my outlook and more often than not- my reason to hope was founded after all.

This year, I will be holding onto HOPE, but adding PEACE. I started praying for my new word for the year last week and PEACE kept coming to my mind. My devotional reading for today was also about peace which just confirmed it for me.

One thing I do with my "word of the year" is look up every reference to it in the Bible and choose my favorites. I haven't done that yet with PEACE (though I am looking forward to it!). I will leave you with my favorite HOPE verse this year:

Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.