“Happy New Year!!!”

We made it! 2017 is over. For some of you, 2017 was a year of stress, drama, sadness, struggle and turmoil. For others 2017 was a slow year, nothing significantly good or bad happened. You just kind of trudged along. For another bunch of you 2017 was a year of growth, prosperity, friendships & love. For me, 2017 was a very interesting combination of all of these things. I found family in friendships and learned what it really means to love and be loved. I grew in ways that I never thought would be possible. I did things that scared me, chased after my dreams and found contentment in the moments of quiet. I  lost friends I couldn’t imagine my life without…and survived. I lost a friend to suicide and embraced the grieving that came with instead of closing myself off to those emotions. I  became unshakable in my relationship with Christ and learned the true meaning of perseverance.

I  said yes to adventures I didn’t plan for….many times. I did a lot of new things to my hair and made a decision to treat my body better than I ever had before. I embraced my responsibility as a mentor, friend and leader, something I had run from for many years and learned the art of forgiving myself. So yea, I’m excited for 2018, but even though 2017 was crazy, emotional and oh so messy at times…i’m gonna miss it. I learned a lot. I did a lot.  2018, let’s get it.

 

In theme with the new year and it’s shenanigans’, lets talk about goals. I mentioned goals and how to set them and stick to them in a previous post, so I  won’t go into all of that but you can read about it HERE. I tend not to go crazy with new years resolutions and such. My goals each year tend to be the same anyway; be more creative, write more, read more, eat better. And I do. I’m actually pretty good at keeping myself on track with these things, mainly because I don’t set too many. This year however, I’m focused on one thing.

Internal beauty.

A few nights ago I  was doing a devotional that brought me to proverbs 31. Almost every Christian girl has heard of this verse. The Virtuous woman that we should all aspire to be like. I won’t put it all here because its long, but if you’re curious look it up online. I read from the She Reads Truth bible (its amazing btw) and the CSB version. But basically, starting from v.10 there are characteristics of this virtuous woman or “capable wife” that are listed. I have read and heard this verse before and usually I’ve rolled my eyes because the women who were discussing it at the time (each time) were using it as a checklist for themselves to get their husband. So they’d aspire to be this person, so that then God would give them their husband. They also used her as an excuse to shame women for their clothing choices, language, lifestyles etc….I found it nauseating so for the longest time I ignored the verse. But the other night I saw something else in it. I saw her work ethic. I saw her priorities. I saw her diligence. I saw her creativity. I saw her joy in serving her family. I saw her wisdom. I saw her shrewdness. I saw her financial stability. I saw her selflessness. I saw her leadership. I saw her solid decision-making. I saw all of it. And for the first time she became concrete. She became someone I could see. Someone I could admire, someone I could become. Blown away, I scrambled for my beaten up, flimsy old journal and wrote

Goal for 2018:

• Be more focused on internal beauty than external
• Yes, be healthy. Take care of yourself and feel beautiful but…
  • Check your motives
  • Check what the majority of your weight is on. Is it on how I look or is it on what I am and what I’m doing and saying.
  • Who am I when no one is watching?

Beneath that, I wrote somethings that I envision when I think about an internally beautiful woman:

• someone with integrity
• someone who is loyal
• someone who encourages others
• someone who is honest
• someone who is passionate, and expresses her passions correctly. (not angrily or aggressively)
• someone who is focused on the right things
• someone with self-control
• someone who does not embrace gossip

Those were just the things off the top of my head that evening. I’m sure there are plenty more but those are the things I will be focusing on. My hope, my prayer actually is that by the end of 2018, I can look in the mirror and see these things reflected in me.

 

Lets chat! I’d love to hear from you!!

Have you read Proverbs 31? What are your thoughts?

What are some of your best memories of 2017? Worst?

What are some goals you’d like to achieve this year?

What is one thing you’re looking forward to in 2018?