Happy New Year–2019

Thursday, January 3rd, 2019     by Debra DuPree Williams     Start the Conversation

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

Here it is, yet another new year. It seems we are surprised that they come so quickly—yet, they arrive at the same rate every year—unless it’s a leap year.

Many of my friends are writers, but many are not. Most of my writer-friends choose a word for the coming year. I generally have one that keeps repeating during the year, but I rarely, if ever, post it. I’m going to do that this year.
My Word

This year, my word is hope. I think this could actually be a lifetime word, not just my word for the year. It seems I’m always praying and hoping for one thing or another.

Merriam-Webster defines hope as an intransitive verb: to cherish a desire with anticipation, to want something to be true. Or, as a transitive verb: to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment. I think my hope lies in the transitive category. Although, I’m sure that some of my hopes fall into the intransitive category as well.
 Heavenly Music

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that I am a vocalist. For years my husband and I sang in a phenomenal church choir in Birmingham, Alabama, Independent Presbyterian Church. This wasn’t your ordinary church choir. Places in the choir were coveted and one had to audition to claim one of the forty-five spots.

Many members began singing there as college students—voice majors, for the most part. That is when I became a member. When I got married, I suggested that our beloved choirmaster/organist might want to hear my husband sing. Thus, hubby became a member of the bass section. We sang there for the the first eleven years of our marriage, until we made the move to Florida.

While members of the choir, we sang many major works, among those was Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, or The German Requiem. If you’ve never heard this glorious piece of music, let me urge you to find a recording somewhere and listen. It is a powerful and beautiful work. But in the entire piece, my favorite line is my hope is in Thee. I sing this around our home so much that my husband gave me a plaque with that Bible verse on it—Psalm 39:7. It hangs in my office.

As I look forward to the coming new year and all that it may bring, I have hope that God will hear my prayers and the desires of my heart. I have hope that He will use all circumstances for my good as He is the one who knows the plans He has for me (Jeremiah 29:11).
Hope and Prayer

And it is my hope and my prayer that you will be blessed in the new year. If you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I hope that you will come to know Him who calls you by name, who has your name written on the palm of His hand. Joyce Meyer, the evangelist, even said in one of her sermons, He has it tattooed in the palm of His hand. It’s permanent. Not even the most-modern technology will ever laser it away.

Happy New Year to you! May God pour abundant blessings upon you in 2019.

Have you chosen a word for 2019? I hope that you have. Share it with us if you will.

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