Last Year's Word

Another new year has come, and I never wrote about the word I chose to focus on last year. Before I get too far away from the past year, I’d like to check that box.

In the year 2009 I chose, not a word, but a phrase: I Need Thee Every Hour.
I had no idea how much I would need that thought this past year.

One of the benefits of focusing on a word or phrase for an extended period of time is that your mind expands, and you gain a greater understanding of what you are thinking about. As I thought about why we need God, how often we need Him, and in what ways we need Him, I came to understand better that we do indeed need Him every hour. I learned that He is always there, that as we remember Him, He remembers us.

I also realized that He needs us. He needs us to think of Him, to know Him, to listen to Him, and to follow Him. He needs us to do that so He can make Himself known to us, so He can bless us, so He can guide us and use us in His strait way.

It has helped me better understand who He is, what He has done, and what He will do for us.


WHY “ I Need Thee Every Hour”:

** For life itself, for He is The Life that gives life to every man and all that in the world there is.

** For Light, for he is The Light that lighteth the earth and the heavens and those that dwell therein... The Light of Truth, of intelligence, and of Love. He is the Light in the darkness, and makes our burdens light.

** Hope, for His is the only name under heaven by which man may be saved, from sin and from sorrow, from discouragement and doubt, from death itself. It is by His merits we are saved, not by ours.

** To remember who I am, and whose I am, and that I was bought with a price, and am His.

** To be forgiven, cleansed, and sanctified, worthy of His presence.

** Love, for as I feel His love, I am filled with love for Him and for His children.

** Peace, not as the world giveth, but that which can only come from Him.

** For gratitude, to know from Whom my blessings flow, and who to thank for them.

** To be my shield and my protection from evil and from danger every moment of every day.

** He is Master, to help me withstand temptations, to change my carnal nature, to overcome the world, as He did.

** He is Teacher, a personal tutor for my particular curriculum in life.

** To be a Witness to the world as His light shines through me.



This scripture best expresses how I feel about this past year:

I say unto you, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God,
or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love,
even so I would that ye should remember,
and always retain in your remembrance--
the greatness of God,
and your own nothingness,
and his goodness and longsuffering towards you.

If you do this,
ye shall always rejoice,
and be filled with the love of God,
and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you,
and in the knowledge of that which is just and true.
(Book of Mormon, Mosiah 4:11-12)


Truly, we need Him every hour.