Every morning I wake up, roll on my right side, take my leather bracelet that is stamped with “Hope” in the center of it, and fasten it on my wrist as I look at the anchor-shaped ring on the center of my left hand and pause to thank God for being my Anchor of Hope. It might sound a little too “ritualistic,” but it focuses my thoughts on that powerful word: hope. 

Last fall is a bit of a blur (as is much of 2015), but I know that when I chose my “word of the year” for 2015, I knew that I had to dwell on and learn to develop a greater capacity to find hope in every area and in every circumstance. Through family loss, lost relationships, lost income, lost dreams, there was, is, and always will be hope, because true hope is found in the One who guides me, loves me, helps me, and on and on the list goes. Christ has truly provided for me an anchor of hope in His unconditional, all-powerful, deeply personal love.

So last month I begin looking for a really powerful word to choose as “my word” for 2016. It needed to be big. It needed to speak volumes. It needed to be better than ever. I searched the dictionary, the thesaurus, commentaries, and blogs of great leaders. When I selected one that I thought fit that bill and was ooh-la-la perfect, it sort of just ended up feeling like…a word. I had chosen a powerful word that was lacking power.

Then—And why exactly is it that I write “then” so often? Why don’t I just start at the top with my Creator every time? Why don’t I open the Bible instead of all those other plain ol’ “resource books”?—yes, then I dropped again to my knees at the foot of my ugly blue, best-chair-in-the-world prayer chair and said, “Lord, please show me. YOU choose the word for 2016. I’m going to read my regularly planned chapters today and do my Bible study lesson this morning, but whatever day you’re ready to show me the word from YOUR Word, I’ll be ready, watching, and reading! But here’s what I need, Lord: I need a word that literally drips with your promises to take me beyond hope. I don’t know what that place is or what that word will be, but I want it to—no, I need it to—be a word that is clearly from You for my year ahead.”

So are you ready for this? First. though, I ask again: WHY do we wait to ask God for what we need…even something as small, simple, and to some, insignificant as a word? He says, “You do not have because you do not ask,” so I’ve started asking. He gives in some way, shape, or form every time. (Including when He says no. That’s a gift sometimes, you know.) But, without further adieu, I want to share with you what God used from my regularly planned reading to show me that day (and yes, I think He even chose the version I was using…you’ll see why):

“You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance” (Psalm 65:11, NKJV).

Oh my heart, I nearly got goosebumps even typing that just now! The word hope was such an anchor for me! But in this verse I fully realized that beyond the hope, His paths literally “drip with abundance.” So in every area of my life during the coming year—every area—I am claiming, holding on to, and praying for God to rain down…

Abundance!

And yes, I’ve already ordered the new bracelet.

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Have you chosen your word for 2016 yet? I’d love for you to share it in the comments below!