My One Word For 2016

One word.

I always have a hard time settling my thoughts and heart on one word for the year. Honestly, I put the whole thing to prayer and ask God to bring it to me. "What is the one word YOU would have me focus on this year?"

I don't sit down in front of a thesaurus of words to see if something jumps out.
I don't think about what would sound cool to tell my friends.
{For example; "Hey, bro. Do you know what my one word for 2016 is? *lean in close for the whisper action* Quesadilla. *Back up for the classic 'bro' nod of the head.* Thattttttttttt'sssssss Rigggghhhhhhht."  See how that doesn't work out well?
I don't even try to guess what would best apply to me.

I just wait. I ask God to bring it to me and I wait.

So a few days before the new year, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and this one word just smacked me in the face. And it's strange because as soon as I saw it, I got choked up and just knew that this was the one.

*I realize that if you're not a praying person, this all sounds a little strange by now & I apologize. Just bear with me. It's a good word.*

Gosh. I put that graphic in there and I feel the tightness in my throat again. See, my one word for 2015 was "Go". At the beginning of the year I was all "Go? Go where?" and by summer my house was being listed for sale and I was seeing that word play out in different ways. It wasn't just "Go" as in a destination, it was "Let this go" and "don't miss that writer's group meeting" and so on. 

If I can be honest, 2015 was a hard year for me. A lot of turmoil was stirring up in my family outside of my home and I was watching hurt after hurt after hurt take place. My house wasn't selling, even with the hubster's job still set to move its office further west than we like from where we are now.  I ended the year with a lot of questions, still. "How will this all work out? Where will we find to live? How am I going to get my family settled with my hubster working long hours? What will happen to my extended family going through hard times right now?" I could almost cry thinking about the piles of questions. 

Watch. 

Just trust and watch. Watch how God takes big dreams and helps you grow into them. Watch how God grabs ahold of mountains and tosses them out of your way. Watch how God can help your business grow in a way only HE can do. Watch His steady hand even in the hard times...you know He's there too. Watch what God can do when you surrender your gifts and talents and will to Him. Watch what God can do with the impossible and the thing you're ready to just throw in the towel on.

Watch. 

That word has given me a faith boost. It's reminded me to not be downcast and to trust that joy comes in the morning. It's given me a sense of peace and a confident beginning to a new year. 

Even though the bad stuff hasn't gone away and we're still waiting for a final decision from a house buyer so we can buy a new house, ourselves - I'll watch what He does and trust even the things I can't see. 

What's your one word for 2016? Do you have a link to a post to share? Stick it in the comments so I can go visit you and chat it up with you about this new year we're stepping into. 

~Amy