My word for 2010

After much thought, and reading other people's blogs on the word they are going to meditate on for 2010, I have finally come up with mine. Okay, it's not very original, but it applies, so here it is:I keep having the word "Hope" come up in conversations and posts, and it has just been jumping out at me. In fact, I received the sweetest note from my mother-in-law today that sealed the deal for me. Her note had this verse at the bottom that I will be keeping close to me.

"Be joyful because you have hope. Be patient when trouble comes, and pray at all times."
Romans 12:12

Here's another couple of verses I found that I really love:
"We also have joy with our troubles because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out His love to fill our hearts."
Romans 5:3-5

This year, I will be focusing on Hope, rather than on worry...well, I'll be trying really hard daily to shift my focus to Hope. Worry plagues my everyday life, and most of my thoughts, but I am going to choose to focus on the Hope for my future, and let Hope give me the comfort that I need to face another day without fear.

I found these quotes tonight when I stumbled upon beliefnet.com, and I really got a lot from some of the articles on there.
"To live without hope is to cease to live" -Fyodor Dostoevsky
"Hope is rooted in empowerment and personal control"

This was in an article by a lady named Lori Hope, who was diagnosed with lung cancer, but chose to live with Hope everyday. She posted this in an article also on beliefnet.com & I thought I would share.
H: Humor "Forget about your cancer & laugh"
O: Options "Choose to spend your time doing whatever feeds your soul"
P: Protection "Protect yourself from toxic people & seek out hopeful ones"
E: Empathy "Try to empathize with and forgive those that say the wrong thing and hurt your
feelings"

Here's another kind of cool prayer I found on beliefnet.com, it was posted with this picture, and it's a different way to look at receiving chemo & I SO wish I would have found it sooner. Maybe then I wouldn't have resented the awful drugs that made me so sick & have so many side effects. I often refer to it as poison, which it is, but maybe now I'll see it as healing droplets that will HOPEfully save my life!
"Blessed are you, compassionate one, for giving me these droplets of Taxol (current chemo drug). Like refreshing dew and healing rain, may they save my life."
- Diann L. Neu

Again, I took you to church, right? I didn't intend for that to happen, but I thought I should expound upon my word choice for 2010, and it ended up being long-winded! I tend to do that (as if you didn't already know) :-)

Hope your word for 2010, or New Year's Resolutions, or whatever you've chosen to do is working out beautifully!