LOOKING BACK AND MOVING FORWARD

I got to be my family's counselor at
Family Camp this summer!

LOOKING BACK

2017 was a whirlwind of a year for so many people, myself included; but, that's not a bad thing.  I have been busy since January 1st, and I loved pretty much every second of it.  The year started off with me spending 6 weeks in South Africa and a week and a half in Israel with a wonderful group of people who I love dearly, and I ended my first year of college in April.  Then I spent a few weeks at home packing up for college again and I worked as a counselor at a Lutheran Bible camp until 2 days before I moved back into college as the Secretary of Student Government!   

My first semester of sophomore year, however, was not how I expected it to be.  I started off the semester feeling very anxious and withdrawn, as if I was living in a strange haze of someone else's life.  I loved my jobs, enjoyed my classes, I had friends and an amazing boyfriend to be with, but I still felt strange and empty.  Void of feeling.  But as the semester went on, I began to feel more real, as if life was starting to return to normal.  
I began to experience God in new ways, grow in my relationships, feel more confident.  I even got to do some new things, such as go to Montana Youth Conference and represent Trinity, running the camera during worship.  I also got to lead a worship session all by myself at school, which is something I had never done before.  I started going to a ladies Bible study, I sought out a mentor to meet with once a week, and I started spending more time with friends and with God.

Last year, I set myself a list of resolutions on this blog and I looked back at them and was pleasantly surprised that I did alright at completing them.  I drank more water and cared more about my health, even exercising most days by myself and working out once a week in the gym, especially this past semester.  I kept a goal for myself every day, even if it was just making my bed, which helped me feel more motivated in general.  I was tons more intentional about my relationship with Bryce this year and we have grown in our best-friendship, love, and care for each other immensely.  I am very blessed by him.  

The resolutions I failed were not drinking any pop or caffeine which I gave up about halfway through the year, switching instead to letting myself have pop every once in awhile, usually once a week.  Another failed resolution from last year was devotional time every day.  I have done a fairly good job of keeping up with devotions, but it is definitely not close to every day.  However, I do feel that my prayer life with God and my closeness and realness with Him has greatly improved.  I might do a separate post on this sometime, as I could write so much more.  I have lots I would like to improve on this next year, 2018, but overall, 2017 was a good year for me.  I learned a lot and enjoyed what God was doing in my life, even when it was painful.  

2017 was a crazy beautiful year. 

MOVING FORWARD

After that recap, I want to set new resolutions and goals for 2018.  I learned a lot this past year, but learning is a never-ending process and I have some things that I would like to get better at, grow in, and experience.  

My 2018 Resolutions

1. Spend more time with God.  I am making this more open-ended than last year because I know now that "time with God" can look many different ways.  One specific that I am placing on this goal, however, is that I would like to go to more Dig Deeper sessions at TBC.  It's a time for prayer either in the morning or evening, and I would like to use that time more effectively than I did this year. 

2. Continue to care about my health.  Eat healthy foods that make me feel good, eat enough that I feel full and don't get hangry, exercise, maybe even try running with Bryce (it's ok if I don't).  I want to go on walks, breathe fresh air, drink LOTS OF WATER, etcccccc.

3. Read more on my own time.  I read a lot of diverse material for classes, which is great, but I want to become the avid reader I was once again.  One of my subgoals of this is to buy a new bookshelf because I bought and recieved more than 10 books over Christmas break and my tiny bookshelf in my dorm room is not going to work anymore.  I'm really excited about this resolution.  

4. Read the whole Bible.  This one makes me a little embarrassed actually.  Even though I have read the whole New Testament, and parts of the Old, I have never finished the whole entire Bible, and for crying out loud, I'll be 20 in 17 days; I think it's about time.  

As far as other goals and resolutions, this is all I have so far.  However, this list is subject to be added to in the future as the start of the year rolls on.  

I thank God for giving me so many blessings in my life, and I thank Him that 2017 was a wonderful year.  


I pray that He blesses your 2018.   

<3